Jambalaya

Here's my recipe/guide for making one of my favorite one-pot comfort foods...Jambalaya! While there are no connections with this dish to Newfoundland or New England (its actually a cajun dish from New Orleans), I feel it has a lot of appeal to east coast palettes and lifestyles. For one, what's better than a warm one-pot, hearty meal on a cold winter evening such as we have outside right now. Secondly it has great ingredients available year round, and includes chicken, sausage and shrimp, all ingredients we love here down-east. While whole or diced gulf shrimp are traditional down in the south, I like to use whole Maine or Newfoundland cold water shrimp in my jambalaya. One of the beauties about a dish like this is that you can interchange ingredients based on what you have and what you like. It can be all meat, all seafood, with sausage, without sausage, chicken breast, or chicken thighs, white rice or brown rice. You get the picture. The key here is to have good quality ingredients, cook the rice just right and have it all well seasoned with creole spice. You can use a store bought cajun or creole spice mix or just make your own.

Here's how I like to make mine. I use either boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs, and good andouille sausage if I can find it. If not I substitute Spanish chorico sausage.

Cajun Jambalaya (serves 6)

Ingredients:
4-6 ounces of andouille sausage (or other similar dry pork sausage), cut in to 1/4 inch thick slices
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or 6 boneless, skinless thighs), cut into 1 inch cubes
8 ounces uncooked shrimp
1 large yellow onion, 1/4 inch dice,
1 stalk celery, halved and diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
3-5 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1 jalapeno pepper, minced (optional)
1 cup long grain rice (white or brown)
1 large tomato, diced
3 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp Creole Seasoning (recipe follows), plus a sprinkle at the end

Directions:

I like to first saute the sliced andouille sausage, reserve and then saute the chicken in the drippings and reserve it. I then saute the vegetables, followed by the rice, seasoning and stock, and finish with the shrimp and reserved sausage and chicken. I finish it off with some fresh parsley and hot sauce to taste.

In a large, deep skillet, saute slice sausage over medium heat until browned and it has released some of its fat.Reserve the sausage to the side. Turn heat to medium high and sear the cubed chicken in the drippings. Season with a little Creole. spice. Brown the chicken but don't worry about cooking it all the way through as it will go back in the mix. Once browned, set aside.

In the same pan, add a tablespoon of oil if necessary and add the onion, celery and diced peppers. Cook until vegetables are tender. Add the garlic and tomatoes and cook for a minute or so. Add the rice and remaining tablespoon of Creole spice and coat the rice in the oil and vegetables. Add the bay leaf and chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook (stirring occasionally) until the rice is tender and the liquid is mostly absorbed...about 15 minutes. Add the raw little shrimps, the sausage and chicken, mix well and cover. Continue cooking for another 10 minutes or so until the shrimp and chicken are completely cooked and the rice is done. Serve with parsley and a few splashes of hot sauce if you like a little more heat. The sausage should pack a little punch. Enjoy!


Wicked Good Creole Seasoning
Combine the following spices in a jar with a tight fitting lid.
4 Tbsp Paprika
2 Tbsp Cayenne Pepper
2 Tbsp Garlic powder
2 Tbsp Onion Powder
2 Tbsp Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Ground Thyme
1 Tbsp dried Oregano
1 Tbsp Kosher Salt

Chicken and Rice Soup with Root Vegetables and Kale

As mentioned in my last post, I recently made a chicken and rice soup, fortified with extra vegetables and wholesome ingredients. Typically I make chicken and rice soup like my mother or nan would, using a homemade stock, chicken (whole or pieces), a vegetable medley consisting of onion, celery, carrot, rutabaga, and potato, typical Newfoundland choices, and white rice. To make this already healthy meal even more so, and to try and make it taste as good I made a few changes to my usual recipe. 

The first change I made was to substitute high fiber long grain brown rice for white rice. Secondly, I omitted the potatoes and more celery, carrots and rutabaga than usual. Lastly, I added chopped kale, which is considered by many nutritionist and one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat (along with other dark leafy greens). The kale really cooks down and I promise it will be a welcomed addition to any of your own soup recipes. If you can't find kale, or want to add another similar vegetable, turnip greens (common in Newfoundland - actually rutabaga greens), mustard greens or spinach, then go right ahead. Here's how I put it together.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
water
bay leaves
tops of celery and carrots
4 ribs celery, chopped fine
4 large carrots, chopped
1 large (2 medium) yellow onions
1 rutabaga, diced
1 bunch kale
1/2 cup long grain brown rice
1 tsp savory (optional)
salt and pepper

Directions:
Place a cleaned whole chicken in a large dutch oven, or your favorite soup pot, and add enough water to cover. Add the tops of the celery and carrots you will use later in the soup, along with 2 bay leaves and a good pinch or two of salt and pepper. Bring the pot to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Cook for one hour. While the chicken cooks, prep your vegetables. Skim off any skum that forms on the top. Remove the chicken from the stock and let rest and cool. Using a slotted spoon, remove the stock ingredients (veggies, bay leaves) until left with a clear chicken stock. Taste for salt.

Return the stock to a simmer and add all the vegetables except for the kale. If your rutabaga cubes are larger than the pieces of carrot, give them a 5 minute head start. Add the brown rice and the savory. Simmer until the vegetables are tender and the rice is mostly cooked. About 30 minutes. In the meantime, remove the meat from the chicken. I find that the dark meat can be pulled apart by hand, but I like to remove each breast whole and chop it in large chunks. Reserve the meat as adding it too early can make it fall apart too much. Wash the kale and cut it into shreds. Add it to the simmering pot. While it may look like a lot, it will cook down dramatically. Cook the kale for 10 minutes, add the chicken and pot, and turn off the soup. I found that the rice had absorbed some water so I added a couple cups to top up the pot. Taste for salt and pepper.

I always like soup best the next day. What I like to do is make soup on a weeknight after work, keep it in the fridge overnight and then reheat portions for supper and lunches the rest of the week. I add some crushed saltine crackers to the top and I'm all set! Enjoy.

Birthday Weekend Feast I

Yesterday was my birthday, and this past weekend I cooked up a couple good scoffs. Sunday I went with traditional, comforting meat and potatoes, but on Saturday I attempted two new dishes. The first was a cheddar cheese risotto, inspired by Nigela Lawson and the second was a Brussels sprout side dish I came up with. The veg and starch were paired with some panko crusted and roasted cod fillets.

Here is how it looked and how I put it all together.

Cheddar Cheese Risotto

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 fat green onions, finely sliced (white parts only)
1/2 a medium white onion, diced fine
1/2 a stalk of celery, sliced fine
1 ½ cups Arborio rice
½ cup white wine
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
4 cups hot chicken stock
1 cup chopped cheddar cheese (I used a combination of extra sharp and garlic and herb cheddar by Cabot of Vermont)
2-3 tablespoons minced chives

Directions:
Melt the butter and oil in a deep skillet and cook the onion, green onion and celery over medium heat until soft...about 5-6 minutes. In the meantime pour the stock in a sauce pan and bring it up to temperature.

Add the rice and stir/cook with the vegetables for a couple of minutes so each grain is kissed with the oil, then crank up the heat and add the wine and mustard, stirring until the wine is absorbed and the alcohol evaporates. Reduce the heat.

Begin ladling in the hot stock, letting all the liquid become absorbed as you stir before adding the next one. Keep the rice at a gentle simmer.

Stir and ladle until the rice is al dente (has a little bite), about 20 minutes, then add the cheese, stirring it into the rice until it melts. Taste for seasoning.

Remove the pan from the heat, still stirring as you do, and then serve onto warmed plates, and garnish with the chopped chives.

next time....Brussels Sprouts with Calabrase, and pan roasted cod