Frugal Recipes: Jambalaya

Posted on February 8, 2008
Filed Under Recipes |

Photo Courtesy of scorps1027

When I was in New Orleans after Katrina, I made one of the best discoveries of my life. I volunteered at Gonzales taking care of the animals that had been stranded by the storm and resulting floods. Conditions were primitive at best and food was.. well, whatever you could come by. The local chapter of Jambalaya Chefs dropped in one day with World Champion Recipe Jambalaya for the volunteers. Wow. I think it was the best food I had ever eaten.

When I got home, I searched for recipes. I found that the Cajuns were the original frugal eaters. Jambalaya was developed when food was scarce according to Food History. Jambalaya is surprisingly easy to cook and inexpensive. I usually cook up a double batch and freeze half. The other half I eat for a couple of days as it is better warmed over.

The following is my own recipe. All amounts are approximate, add or subtract to suit your own tastes.

1 dicedGreen Bell Pepper
1 chopped Onion
½ lb cooked Chicken (leftover is fine or if you are feeling spendy,1 of the pre cooked packages)
1 Sausage (Andouille, Smoked Sausage or Kielbasa, I generally use whatever is on sale.)
2 Cups Rice
½ tsp Garlic
Cayenne Pepper to taste
1 or 2 Bay Leaves
2 TB Olive oil or Canola Oil (Any Vegetable oil really but Olive Oil is healthiest)

In a cast iron skillet, saute peppers and onions over medium heat until onions are clarified. Add garlic, Chicken and sauté until browned. To make traditional brown colored Jamblaya, you will want some blackening stuff in the skillet. Add Sausage and sauté until brown.

Put 2 cups of rice in a big pot, add 4-5 cups of water and Chicken Sausage Mix from fry pan. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to get out all of the blackened bits. This is what gives it the beautiful coloring. It still tastes the same without but isn’t as pretty. Add Bay leaves, cayenne pepper (I use between ½ tsp and 1 tsp depending on who I am feeding.) Salt and pepper to taste.
Bring to boil and then simmer for at least 20 minutes or until all water is absorbed.

This generally makes enough to feed 4 people with leftovers and is great with French or Italian homemade bread. Sometimes I make a double batch, sometimes I use different types of sausage. I even used leftover fried chicken once. You can use turkey, shrimp, or whatever you have left in the fridge in place of chicken.

If you enjoyed this article, you may want to subscribe to my feed by RSS or get updates in email.

Comments

2 Responses to “Frugal Recipes: Jambalaya”

en on February 15th, 2008 2:43 am

Need to check the spelling; we in Louisiana are proud of our culture, so please spell Gonzales, Louisiana correctly. Thanks!
CindyS on February 15th, 2008 2:55 am

Sorry about that! I loved Gonzales, the people there were wonderful. I hope I can come back for a visit when times are better.

Leave a Reply