Once upon a time, while my husband was attending a conference in New Orleans, I was attending a cooking class, also in New Orleans. I learned how to make a brown jambalaya (there is a "red" Creole version also - but that is another recipe) and a bread pudding that was truly impressive. For my efforts I obtained a cooking certificate and an appreciation of cooking with trinity (onions, celery, and bell pepper) I also learned how to make a roux.
For now, lets concentrate on the jambalaya. (they make it with alligator in New Orleans, but here we will use chicken breasts)
Prepare the following:
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1 chicken cut up and de-boned. (or use 6-8 chicken breasts)
- 1 1/2 lbs sausage (spicy chorizo or Italian - coarse ground variety)
- 4 cups chopped onion
- 2 cups chopped celery
- 2 cups chopped green pepper
- 1 tbsp chopped garlic
- 4 cups long grain rice (they prefer "Uncle Ben's converted rice" in New Orleans)
- 5 cups stock or chicken bouillon
- kitchen bouquet
- 2 tsp salt
- cayenne pepper to taste
- 2 cups chopped green onion
Add sausage and saute with chicken. Remove meat from the pot. In this same pan,make a roux with equal parts of fat (oil or margarine) and flour. (Try 1/3 cup of each to start.) Cook and stir to desired color. In a separate pan, saute onions, celery, green pepper and garlic until tender. Add cooked chicken (or alligator if you please) and sausage. Add liquid and seasonings, and bring to a boil. Add roux. Add rice and return to boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer. Cook 30 minutes. After about 10 minutes of cooking, remove cover and "skim" quickly turning rice from top to bottom completely. Add green onions and chopped tomatoes if desired.
For seafood jambalaya, add seafood here. Shrimp is a nice addition. (craw fish are hard to come by here)
Note: 1 cup of rice will feed 3 people. Over season to compensate for the rice.
Serve with french bread, and of course a beer.
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