Jambalaya

A week ago today was Fat Tuesday and, while that doesn't mean a lot to us personally, we viewed it as a good opportunity to make a big pot of jambalaya. We got the recipe here on Allrecipes.

The Recipe

Cindy's Jambalaya

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1/2 Pound Smoked Sausage

1 Large Onion

1 Cup Chopped Green Bell Pepper

1 Cup Chopped Celery

1/2 Teaspoon Cajun Seasoning

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1 Cup White Rice

1 Can (14.5 oz) Diced Tomatoes With Juice

1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic

2 Cups Chicken Broth

3 Bay Leaves

1/4 Teaspoon Dried Thyme

1 Pound Shrimp (31/40 count), Peeled and Deveined

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Slice the sausage into 1/4" slices and add to the oil, cooking for about two minutes. Add the onion, bell pepper, and celery along with the salt and Cajun seasoning. Sweat until the vegetables are soft, 6 to 8 minutes. Next, stir in the rice and combine it with the vegetable mixture. Then add the tomatoes with juice, garlic, chicken broth, bay leaves, and thyme leaves. Bring the pot to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce to medium-low, cover, and let simmer for 20 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat, let sit for five minutes, remove the bay leaves, and serve.

The Results

This isn't as good as Yats, but that's probably because I've never made jambalaya before. That said, this did turn out to be pretty good. We skipped the shrimp because we didn't have them on hand and used Boudin sausage I got from the Smoking Goose. This wasn't a great application for the sausage, so I'll probably use something different next time, but it worked. The recipe was really easy to make and it makes a good pot of hot food - perfect for cold weather like this.

And that's all we have for this post. Thanks for reading!