Jambalaya

During the first month of being married I was trying to do what I think most new wives do.  Cook amazing dinners.  You know, show off your wifey skills in the kitchen.  So in my effort to throw down I ventured into making dishes that I had never had at home as a kid but always sounded really good.  Jambalaya was one of them.  I found a decent recipe online and then tweaked it so that it was perfect for us.  Siua doesn't like things too spicy and I prefer the sausage over the chicken.  It's one of the few recipes that really stuck and has become a regular in the cooking rotations ever since.  Mostly because it's easy to make a whole lot of all at once.  Some of the more time consuming meals (country fried steak, stuffed chicken, fried chicken) got thrown out of rotation years ago. ;-) Once you have to cook for more than 2 or 3 people, your options change significantly.  So here goes our family jambalaya.  When I made this last week, Safeway was having a really good deal on jumbo shrimp.  So we got lucky and added shrimp to the mix but usually I just use sausage and chicken.

A few tablespoons of olive oil (or vegetable oil if you don't have olive on hand)
Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs cut into bite sized (I usually use about 5-6 pieces.)
Smoked Sausage about 7-8 cut in slices (Use whatever sausage you like. To cut the spiciness, I go for smoked.)
5 celery stalks chopped (not bunches, individual stalks)
3 bell peppers chopped (I usually use one of each color)
1 large onion chopped
4 large tomatoes chopped
4 cans of chicken stock (or one big can)
5 cups of rice
Cayenne Pepper - only about 1/2 teaspoon for us
Thyme - 2 tsp
Salt - add as much or as little as you like
Pepper - 2 tsp
Fresh Garlic - 3 tablespoons or 3 cloves
Paprika - 2 tsp
Oregano - 1 tsp
Fresh Parsley - 1 bunch
OR you can buy a mixed creole seasoning in one bottle that's pretty cheap. But add as much or as little of the seasoning as you like.  Taste as you go along and change it to make it your own.

I start off by chopping EVERYTHING and putting it in individual bowls. 

In a large, deep pot, drizzle a few tablespoons of oil just to coat the bottom.  Turn it on to medium heat and toss in your sausage.  Cook the sausage until it starts to brown.  If you're using chicken, add the chicken with the sausage and let that cook down.  Since I'm using shrimp, I'll throw them in later.

Once the sausage is nice and brown around the edges, throw in your celery, onion and bell peppers.  Sprinkle with a little salt to help them "sweat" and cook until they are soft. 

After the veggies have started to cook down, I usually add the seasonings.  I just dash them and then taste the juice.  Remember at this point, everything is edible so don't worry about tasting.  Keep doing that little by little until it's right for you.

Then throw in your tomatoes.  See how much the veggies cook down!?! Let that cook for a few minutes stirring pretty frequently.  You'll notice the

tomato adds a nice juice.  I do another tasting to see if I should add anything.

This is when it can get tricky.  Add the chicken broth and the RAW rice.  Mix really well, turn the heat down to a medium low and cover the pot.  It's important to mix really well EVERY 5-7 minutes scraping the bottom of the pot with your spoon.  You'll see why.  As the rice cooks, it'll start to stick to the bottom of the pot if it's not frequently mixed. It's going to look really watered down and soupy at first.  Just let it keep doing its thing.

As it cooks, you'll notice it start to thicken.  Every 20 mins or so, test the rice.  If it's still a little hard, keep cooking.  If your liquid has cooked down, you can add a cup of water or two to keep the rice cooking.  Remember, if you add water you'll have to taste again to make sure you don't need more seasoning.

Once the rice is completely cooked, throw those shrimp in and turn it off.  I took the shell and tails off of the shrimp but you can do it however you like.  The longer it sits, the thicker it'll get.  I usually let mine sit about 15 mins before serving it.  That gives the shrimp time to cook and the jambalaya time to thicken.

After that 15 mins, you're done! I usually make corn muffins or bread to go with the jambalaya.  A salad goes really well too.  Enjoy!