April 22, 2011

Jambalaya

Jambalaya was started from the French Quarter in New Orleans.
It was attempted by the Spanish to make "paella" in the New World.
Paella has saffron it it but due to the unavailable import costs- tomatoes
were heavily substituted and as time past, Jambalaya became the New
World paella. In Louisiana today, there are many varieties of this dish,
Creole, Red and Cajun just to name a few.
Below is a simple recipe for general Jambalaya.

I usually make chicken, shrimp and sausage Jambalaya but you
can substitute any meat or no meat or tofu even!

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast
shrimp (enough for maybe 4-5 per person)
2 medium (or to your liking) sausage links
S & P (for the salt- I recommend Old Bay season salt)
oil to fry
1 onion chopped
1-2 cloves of minced garlic
half of a bell pepper (I like to mix 1/4 of a red & 1/4 of green)
if you like it very spicy-you can add diced hot peppers)
2 stalks of celery cut about 1/2 inch or so
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup long grain rice
1 can of stewed whole tomatoes
S & P (heavy on the P!)
1/4 fresh parsley or scallions
drizzles of hot sauce (to your liking)