Jambalaya

What better time to make Jambalaya than for Mardi Gras!  Me and Cor went out to dinner for Vday last month and he ordered this awesome Jambalaya for dinner.  It was a little creamy unlike any other jambalaya I'd had before.  I knew I wanted to add jambalaya to my ever growing list of things I want to cook in the near future and I knew I wanted to add a touch of heavy cream to try and re-create this awesome dish we had.  I purchased a box of Zatarain's jambalaya as a starting point and did a quick google search and actually found a bunch of recipes on their website for different versions.  I knew I wanted to add some chucky veggies and make a pretty standard one, and of course throw in some cream.  I used chicken, sausage, & shirmp, but you can use what you prefer.  Let me just say we were both wishing I had made a double batch!


Jambalaya
serves 4, adapted from here

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 cup water

1 package Zatarain's Jambalaya Mix

2 small chicken breasts, diced

2 andouille sausages, diced (spicy cajin sausage - you can also use smoked sausage) about 10 raw shrimp, diced (you can also used cooked)

1/4 - 1/3 cup cream, if desired

1. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add onion and bell peppers; cook and stir 7 minutes or until vegetables begin to soften.

2. Stir in tomatoes, water and Jambalaya Mix. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer 15 minutes.

3. In another pan while jambalaya is cooking, brown chicken and sausage.  Add shrimp (if raw) during the last few minutes to cook through.
4. Stir jambalaya, turn heat to low, cover and cook 10 minutes longer until rice and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.
5. Add in chicken, sausage, and shrimp.  Stir in cream.  Remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes.  The cream will tone down the spiciness, but watch out, it will heat back up if you let it sit overnight!