Jambalaya

"Son of a gun, well have big fun on the bayou ..."

I'm a big fan of cooking big portions, and freezing for future meals. This recipe made 4 generous meals for two. I froze 3/4 of the meal in three separate containers that we can enjoy some evening in the future when we're too tired to cook.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs shrimp (raw, shell and tails removed)


• 1 lb chicken andouille sausage links


• 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 in. bites


• 3 c brown rice


• 6 c chicken stock


• 6 - 8 celery ribs, chopped


• 2 lg or 3 sm green bell peppers, chopped


• 2 lg white onions, chopped


• 3 cloves garlic, chopped


• 1/2 c white wine


• 4 bay leaves


• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp pick-a-pepper sauce (depending on your tolerance and any problems with ulcers)


• 2 tsp salt


• olive oil

Preparation:

• I used a good stock pot for this one -- I like my Calphalon soup pot


• In a separate bowl, add chicken stock to rice and let rice start to soak


• Brown sausage and chicken in some olive oil, remove both when chicken is cooked through


• Add white wine to deglaze the pot


• Add bell pepper, celery, onion, and garlic -- saute for 5 - 10 minutes, until soft


• While veggies are cooking, cut sausage into 1/4 in. bites


• Once the veggies are soft, add chicken stock, rice, sausage, bay leaves, salt, pick-a-pepper sauce -- bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cover.


• Cook until rice is about 5 minutes from being cooked (20-30 min?), then add chicken and shrimp. Continue to cook until shrimp is cooked through.

Serve:

I'm serving the jambalaya with brussell sprouts baked in the oven with olive oil, bacon, and walnuts.

Sunday Dinner: Shrimp and Sausage Etouffee

Pete and I love Sunday night dinners. This was my first attempt at cajun cooking -- turned out amazing!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 stick of butter


• olive oil


• 1 lb shrimp (uncooked, shell off, tail on)


• 1 lb andouille sausage links (I used chicken andouille links from Whole Foods)


• 3/4 c all-purpose flour


• 1 medium onion


• 2 celery ribs


• 1 green bell pepper


• 4 cloves garlic


• 2 - 12 oz can/bottle of beer (one for the recipe, one for the cook)


• 4 c chicken stock


• 2 bay leaves


• 2 Tb sweet paprika


• dash cayenne (ground or sauce)


• 1 c chopped flat-leaf parsley


• diced green scallions for topping


• rice (I use brown rice)

Preparation:

• This requires slow cooking on the stove, so I used my dutch oven (tee-hee, "dutch oven" -- always makes me laugh)


• In food processor, chop/blend/pulp the onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic


• Drizzle olive oil in pot and brown andouille links in the oil


• Remove sausage after browned, add butter until melted, then stir in flour to make your roux


• Once your roux is nice and brown, add your veggies, cook for a couple minutes, then deglaze the pot with 12 oz beer


• Add chicken stock, bay leaves, paprika and cayenne. Whisk consistently to ensure mixture is well blended


• Slice sausage links to 1/4 in. - 1/2 in. slices, add to dutch oven


• Simmer for about an hour -- let it reduce considerably


• Prepare rice -- I prepared 1 1/2 c of dry rice in the rice cooker


• Remove shrimp tails and then add shrimp just five minutes before you're ready to serve


• Remove from heat and stir in parsley

Serve:

I served the etouffee over brown rice and topped with chopped scallions. I could do without the scallions -- Pete thought they were "critical' to completing the meal. Pete poured us each a Yuengling Lord Chesterfield -- perfect companion (Pete and the beer)!