Culinary Disasters

Making this dish brings back memories of sitting in the French Quarter listening to some good music. 

It is a really simple dish to make.  I like to prepare jambayala in a cast iron dutch oven.  Cast iron is a valuable tool to have due to its amazing ability to get really hot and hold that heat.

For this dish you will need the following:

• Andouille sausage (can be found at most meat markets or grocery stores) cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• Couple chicken breasts diced into 1/2 inch pieces
• Pound of shrimp peeled (I like to buy the peel your own type of shrimp and save the shells in a ziploc bag in the freezer for shrimp stock)
• 1.5 cups chicken stock
• Can of tomatos
• Onions fine diced
• Rib of celery fine diced
• Green pepper fine diced
• Couple tb of fresh thyme
• 3 cloves of garlic finely diced
• 3 bay leaves
• Cup of rice
• Teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper

First thing first is lay everything out that is going in together into bowls.  This way you can just grab the bowl and dump the ingredients in one swoop.

• Bowl #1: andouille sausage.
• Bowl #2: chicken.
• Bowl #3: onion, green pepper, and celery.
• Bowl #4: garlic.
• Bowl #5: shrimp.

After you have made sure everything is there (remember prep is essential).  Turn the pan onto high and let it come up to a temperature where a drop of water sizzles when placed in the bottom.  My personal opinion is since the andouille is already a high fat piece of meat you do not have to worry about adding extra fat so I just place it in the pan and let it brown.  Once it is browned remove it from the pan and add the chicken.

If the chicken is sticking to the bottom go ahead and add a small amount of canola oil.  I like to use canola oil because it has a high smoke point (around 460 degrees) and is a neutral tasting oil.  After the chicken has been browned remove it from the pan and add the bowl containing the onion, green pepper, and celery.  We want to cook this till it is soft about 4-5 minutes and stir constantly.  Normally I would suggest salting and peppering at this point but some andouille sausage is very heavy on salt and pepper so I would recommend waiting till all the flavors have been added together before introducing any salt and pepper.

After the veggies are soft go ahead and add the bowl containing the garlic and stir for 45-60 seconds.  After that add the chicken broth and lower the heat to medium.  Also make sure to scrap the bottom of the pan to free up any stuck pieces.

 After everything has been freed up from the bottom of the pan go ahead and add the rest of the ingredients (rice, tomatos, cayenne, bay leaves, thyme) along with the andouille and chicken.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce to medium-low, and let it cook for 20 minutes or till the rice is tender. 

I like to about 10 minutes into the rice cooking open up and stir everything around.  Also, this is where I will taste to see if anything needs adjustment such as salt, pepper, or some more cayenne.

Once the rice has been cooked shut the heat off, add the shrimp, and recover.  Set the timer for 10 minutes.

 Once the shrimp has been cooked, serve, and enjoy.

Tags: chicken, pork, All //