Ingredients
The ingredients are listed in amounts appropriate for a
jambalaya batch for serving 12 people. You can easily double or triple
the recipe.
- Andouille and smoked sausage, sliced 1/4 inch thick - 2 cups
- Tony
Chachere's Creole Jambalaya Dinner Mix - 1 8-oz box
- Water - 2 1/4 cups
- Uncle Ben's converted original long grain rice - 1 cup
- Chicken broth (homemade is best) 2 1/4 cups
- Onion - a mix of yellow, red, and green onions (tops included), all
chopped - 2 cups total
- Bell peppers - a mix of yellow, red, and green, all chopped - 2 cups
total
- Celery, chopped - 1 cup
- Garlic, minced - 1 heaping Tablespoon
- Bay leaves - 2 (Make sure they are fresh and strong, if not, add
more)
- Whole cooked tomatoes - 1/3 of a 32-oz can, break up the tomatoes
with your fingers as they go in, reserve the tomato juice to add if
necessary
- Diced tomatoes - 1/3 of a 14-oz can
- Tomato sauce - 1/3 of an 8-oz can
- Sugar - 1 pinch
- Dried thyme - 1 teaspoon
- Tabasco sauce - several sprinkles
- Oregano - 1 teaspoon
- Cayenne pepper - 1/2 teaspoon
- Tony Chachere's
Creole Seasoning - to taste
- Fresh Shrimp, in shell, but cut to make it easy to remove from shell
- 1 1/2 to 2 lbs (Remove shells and store shrimp in ice water while
shelling.)
- Lemon juice - juice of half a lemon for each lb of shrimp
Method1 Prepare the vegetables and shrimp. It pays to get
as much of the prep work done ahead of time, especially if you are
making a large batch. Note that Becca gets her shrimp fresh, not
frozen, in the shell, and butterfly cut to make it easy to de-shell.
After chopping up all the vegetables, de-shelling the shrimp takes a
bunch of time because you want to make sure to get all of the shell
pieces out. As you de-shell the shrimp, place the shrimp in a bowl of
cold water. When you are done de-shelling, strain the water from the
shrimp and put the shrimp in the refrigerator to stay cold. You will
not add the shrimp to the jambalaya until the last 2 minutes of making
this dish.
2 In a large
skillet, fry the sausage slices on medium heat, in batches, until cooked
through, about 15 minutes for each batch. As you finish each batch,
pour out the sausage and whatever fat has been released into a large
stockpot. The size of the stockpot depends on how much jambalaya you
are making. For a this batch, I would use an 8-Qt stockpot.
3 Add Tony
Chachere's Creole Jambalaya Dinner mix, and 2 1/4 cups of water for
every box used. Add Uncle Ben's long grain rice and 2 1/4 cups of
chicken broth for every cup of rice used. Add onions, bell peppers, and
celery. Slowly bring mixture to a simmer, on MEDIUM heat. This is
slow cooking. You want it on medium to prevent the jambalaya from
burning. While the jambalaya is cooking, stir it every once in a while
to make sure that nothing is sticking to the bottom.
4 Add bay leaves,
garlic, whole tomatoes (reserve juice), diced tomatoes, tomato sauce.
Add thyme, tabasco, oregano, cayenne pepper. Slow cook on medium heat
adding tomato juice and stock as needed, as the rice absorbs the liquid
in the pot. You do not want it to get dried out, nor do you want it to
be too liquidy. At this point, stir often to make sure nothing sticks
to the bottom. Have the temperature be just a notch below a simmer. If
it begins to boil, lower the heat, or add water. Cook slowly for an
hour as the rice absorbs the liquid.
Becca with the Creole seasoning
5 While the jambalaya is cooking, taste frequently and adjust
seasonings. Becca likes her jambalaya pretty hot; she says, "If you're
not sweat'n, it's not hot enough!" She adds Tony Chacher's Creole
seasoning to bring up the heat. Add to taste.
6
When the rice has absorbed as much moisture as it will, slowly fold in
the shrimp. Add lemon juice (1/2 a lemon for each lb of shrimp). Cover
and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and you're done.
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