Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Tony's Food 101: Girlfriend's House Jambalaya

Okay, so after sort of a long hiatus, Overeducated and Well Fed is back in business, and we're starting back off with a super-easy dish that's both healthy and cooks up in a single pot, making cleanup fast too (hence why I made it at my girlfriend's house).

Thinking about jambalaya conjures images of New Orleans, Mardi Gras and lots of capsaicin - the stuff that makes chilis so hot. While those things are all true, jambalaya shouldn't be relegated to the category of mystery and exotica by non-Southerners. Once you break down the components, it's actually a really accessible technique for making flavorful one-pot meals. You basically have meat, vegetables and rice. They are all cooked in a particular order and way, making jambalaya more of a technique than any single dish. Today's jambalaya looks more complicated that it actually needs to be, and that's by choice.

So that I could a) impress my girlfriend (and maybe her roommates too) and b) so that I could illustrate exactly variety jambalaya is capable of, today's version has chicken, andouille sausage and shrimp. Feel free to use one of these, any two of these, or all three of these, depending on what you have on hand. Likewise, don't confine yourself to the vegetables I used either. You don't even have to use the tomato if you don't want to! Apparently, in New Orleans, Creole (or Red) Jambalaya contains tomato while Cajun (or Brown) doesn't. Any deep southerners among the readership may feel free to validate or dispute this, by the way. I even messed with the seasonings, not having any pre-made Creole or Cajun seasonings on hand over at the girl's place. I'll include instructions for both in the recipe below, because what I used came out pretty tasty!

One definite Do Not is using a pre-made jambalaya mix. Pretty much all seasoned rice or pasta box mixes are loaded with salt, which is associated with high blood pressure and therefore vascular disease (e.g. heart attacks and stroke). Making this stuff yourself is easy, and you can control the amount of salt, fat (and all the other tasty bad-for-you) things that go into it. Make stuff from scratch and live to cook another day.

Girlfriend's House Jambalaya

  • One large onion, diced.
  • Two cloves of garlic, finely chopped.
  • One or two large carrots, diced.
  • One each red and green bell peppers, again, diced. By the way, when I say "diced" I mean cut into about 1/4 square in flat pieces. Here are more detailed instruction for those who want them.
  • Two boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bit-sized cubes.
  • 1/2 lb andouille sausage, cut on a bias to make oblong or ellipse-shaped slices. I like Trader Joe's andouille chicken sausage, and the smokiness of it helped me get around not having any cajun/creole seasoning to use.
  • One pound of frozen, cooked, tail-off shrimp. Any size is fine. Thaw them according to package directions prior to use. Actually, if you use the super huge ones, you may want to think about using two pounds so that they're a little more populous on your plate. You can also substitue crayfish (if you've been to Ikea lately) or langostine tails.
  • One large can of diced tomatoes. The fire-roasted type are good in this dish, but avoid them if you're already using andouille sausage -and- cajun seasoning with a smoky flavor built in. Do not drain. Again, the tomatoes are all-together optional.
  • One regular can of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed.
  • A tablespoon or two of Cajun or Creole seasoning, to taste, and two big pinches of salt. Alternatively, you could do like I did an use the same amount of a salt-containing all-purpose seasoning mix that you like (I like Jane's Krazy Mixed Up seasonings), along with a dash of cayenne pepper and two of chili powder.
  • One cup of low salt chicken stock/broth - use your own if you've made it!
  • Two big handfuls (about one cup) of white or brown long-grain rice.

Add all of the veggies and a glug of olive oil to a shallow pot with a cover and sweat over medium heat - until the onions are just translucent.


Figure 8.a - I sweat vegetables.

Okay. Now turn the heat up to medium-high add in the chicken and sausage and let them brown for a while, stir it up occasionally. Add in your seasonings at this point. Once they are all brown and tastied-up, add in the kidney beans and tomatoes, then the stock, shrimp and rice. Bring the whole thing to a boil, then turn the heat down to low, cover and let it cook 20 minutes if using white rice, 40 if using brown.

The basic skeleton of the technique is 1) half-cook veggies, 2) add meat and half-cook, 3) add miscellaneous ingredients, stock, rice and simmer until rice is done.) See, you didn't believe me, but wasn't that easy?


Figure 8.b - The usual suspects.

Figure 8.c - The finished product.

Today's pictures are complements of my girlfriend, and her camera that's way better than mine.

Next week, we're going green... and no, I don't mean broccoli rabe.