17 February 2009

Jambalaya!

Our friend John H. in California, who grew up in New Orleans, left a comment here a few days ago and gave us the address of a web site called Nola Cuisine (link). I took a look around the site and got this recipe for Chicken and Shrimp Jambalaya (link). Walt had been talking about making jambalaya for a few weeks, actually.

Everything has been sautéed and now it's ready for the oven.

Well, it's really good. It's kind a Louisiana version of the Spanish dish called paëlla (French spelling?) — rice, smoked sausage, chicken shrimp, and aromatics including onions, celery, and green bell pepper. Not to mention spices and herbs.

Here's what it looks like when it comes out of the oven.

We basically followed the recipe. I substituted French Montbéliard smoked sausage for the Louisiana andouille sausage, because that's what we can get. And I substituted thick-sliced poitrine fumée for the tasso ham. We had chicken, of course, and shrimp. I used round (short-grain) rice and canned tomatoes (it's not the season for fresh tomatoes).

And here it is after the final cooking, with shrimp on top
and ready to be taken to the table.


It doesn't get much better than this. Don't skimp on the cayenne pepper, and serve Tabasco or Chipotle Tabasco sauce at the table.

3 comments:

  1. hey ken.....since i'm orig. from NO, jambalaya is my go to dish for company....nobody doesn't like jambalaya! everyone has their owbn version i guess....i don't use green pepper in mine & put some tomato paste so it turns out a bit more reddish than urs...but basically a one pot meal....just add salad & bread & voila....
    enjoy NC...gonna be cold this week

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  2. One of the first few times we went to the Elephant Bar in Palm Desert, years go, I had Chicken & Shrimp Jambalaya. I thought it was so good I had nothing else ever since. I think they add chopped green onions.

    Word verification is choompal. Sounds like an exotic Indian spice!

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  3. Melinda, I thought all Louisiana dishes had onion, celery, and green pepper in them. I went out and bought green peppers especially, even though they are not in season.

    CHM, I would have like to put in green onions too but that's one thing we can't find easily in France. The Asian store has them but in big bundles. We would never be able to use it all before it went bad. Hmm, maybe it would freeze...

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