Cajun Jambalaya
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 at 6:51 pm by BillThe most requested of all of my recipes. I’ve already made it twice for Penn State Saturdays at our house this season, so here it is.
There are two primary varieties of jambalaya. Creole jambalaya, also known as red jambalaya, is tomato based. Cajun jambalaya, my preferred variety, is not tomato based.
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs mild smoked pork sausage, sliced ¼-inch thick
- 2½ lbs boneless, skinless chicken thigh meat, cut in 1-inch pieces
- 1½ lbs onions, diced
- 2 tbsp garlic, minced
- 1 lb tasso, cubed
- 1½ tsp thyme
- 1½ tsp basil
- 1½ tsp coarsely ground black pepper
- 1½ tsp white pepper
- 1½ tsp red pepper flakes
- 43 fl oz chicken stock
- 1¼ lbs long grain rice
- 1 tbsp parsley
Use high heat to preheat the Dutch oven and add the sausage. Using a chef’s spoon or large spoon, constantly move the sausage from the bottom of the pot. Be careful not to burn the meat. Drain excess grease. Add the thigh meat and brown the chicken on all sides. Again use the spoon to scrape the meat from sticking and burning to the bottom of the pot. Browning the sausage and chicken meats should take 20 minutes. Be careful not to over cook the thigh meat to the point that it shreds.
Lower the heat to medium and add the onions and garlic; saute for about 15 minutes or until the onions are very limp and “clear”. Scrape the bottom of the pot to remove all the “graton”. This is where the jambalaya gets its distinct brown color and taste.
Add the tasso, thyme, basil and black and white pepper. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. This will give the seasonings time to release their oils and flavors.
Add the stock to the concentrate and bring to a rolling boil. Add the rice, reduce the heat to medium and gently break up the rice. Using the paddle, continue to insure that the rice is not sticking to the bottom of the pot; this is very important!
After about 5 minutes, fold in the parsley. Continue to scrape the pot to insure that no rice sticks to the bottom. When the jambalaya returns to a boil, reduce heat to the lowest possible setting and simmer, covered, for at least 25 minutes (longer preferably). Do not remove the cover while the rice is steaming.
That’s it. Serve hot. You’ll get 6 man-sized servings out of one pot of jambalaya.
I don’t do a lot of measuring, so the spices are approximate. To reduce the amount of spiciness, cut the red and black peppers in half. You still need some spice, otherwise it won’t be very cajun!
What you do want to measure precisely is the amount of stock and rice. The proportion is very important to get perfectly tender rice. You can substitute chicken broth for the stock; it’s not quite three 15-oz cans, conveniently.
You must use all-pork sausage for this recipe; do not attempt to substitute beef or turkey sausage. The end result doesn’t taste the same.
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