Monday Munchies: Jambalaya

Happy Presidents Day! I’m so thankful to be off work today (yeah!!) so I was able to spend some time working on my blog. I was also able to think about a new series I’ve wanted to start for a little bit. As some of my frequent readers may have noticed, I’ve been posting every Monday with other random posts throughout the week. Well…. something I’ve really wanted to do is start cooking more; start trying new recipes too. So {bum da bum!} I’m going to start a new blog series: Monday Munchies!  (Think of the “Julie and Julia” movie)

Kind of a cheesy name I know, but I like it anyway. So, going forward on Monday’s I’ll be posting about a new recipe I’ve tried and now Wednesday’s will be about crafts, inspiration, and my spaces, etc. Deal? So here’s the first post… Jambalaya!

As is tradition now, on Saturday I hosted my annual Mardi Gras party at my house. I made a massive batch of Hurricane with fresh juices (so good) and decided that I needed to make Jambalaya to go with it. My friend Laura came over to my house and little early and we got cooking, and I must say, soooo good!

The recipe that we used was from Emeril Lagassi on Food Network.com. We basically took his recipe, doubled it, and subtracted some of the salt, cayenne pepper, and pepper and mixed up some of the meats. It’s a long list, but here are the ingredients:

• Package of salad shrimp or 12 medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped
• 4 ounces chicken, diced (around 1.5 large breasts)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 medium white onion, chopped
• 1 whole green bell pepper, chopped
• 3.5 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 2 cups chopped tomatoes (we used 1 large can diced tomatoes)
• 3 bay leaves (or a couple shakes of ground leaves)
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons hot sauce
• 2 cups uncooked rice
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 5 ounces Andouille sausage, sliced
• Salt and pepper

Creole Seasoning Mix:

• 5 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons salt (his recipe called for 4, but that would have been WAY too much)
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoon dried leaf oregano
• 2 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine the shrimp, chicken with Creole seasoning in a bowl and toss to coat evenly. Heat the oil over high heat in a large, heavy pot over high heat. Add the onions, peppers, and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add the garlic, tomatoes, bay leaves, Worcestershire and hot sauces. Stir in the rice and slowly add the broth. Reduce heat to medium and cook until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender, about 15 minutes. When rice is just tender add shrimp and chicken mixture, and the sausage. Cook for about about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt, pepper and Creole seasoning.

I thought this tasted really good and so did everyone at the party. I hope you enjoy this recipe and this series!!