Jambalaya

I recently read a blog post from Morrigan about a jambalaya recipe. It looked so yummy, I just had to try it. Of course I had to also change it quite a bit, because that's what I do. Actually I just didn't read the whole recipe before going shopping, so I had to make substitutions in quite a few places.

So, this is closer to what I did:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, cleaned and cut up into large bite sized pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound smoked sausage, sliced into circles - I used turkey kielbasa
1 bag of frozen chopped pepper and onion for stir fry
A few shakes of the Adobo spice jar
A bit of dried thyme
2 cups brown basmati rice - this I wouldn't do again, the rice was still crunchy after cooking
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (14-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes - I had a 28oz can of whole tomatoes, so I drained half the juice and chopped them up in the pot
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 dried bay leaf
Shrimp, about 1/2 pound, deveined, shelled, etc - I had a bag of frozen pre-cooked, so I dumped that in towards the end just to thaw and heat through
A good shake of Mrs. Dash Chipotle seasoning - less heat for AJ
sprinkle of cayenne pepper - I put this directly in M and my bowls, again, so AJ could eat it
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
I also added a good shake of celery salt and lessened the actual salt.

Directions


Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to the Dutch oven and brown on each side, about 8 minutes total. Remove to a plate and reserve.

Add sausage, onion, bell pepper, Adobo, and thyme and saute until translucent and sausage is browned, about 8 minutes. (you may want to brown sausages seperately like chicken)

Stir in rice, tomato paste, canned tomatoes, broth, bay leaf, and reserved chicken, and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, and cook on low, covered, for 20 minutes. Add the chipotle seasoning.

Last 10ish minutes, add the shrimp, once the rice is almost done since the shrimp does not take long to cook.

Turn off heat and let rice stand, covered, 5 minutes. Remove bay leaf. Fluff rice with fork and stir in green onions
 
There was no rice fluffing to be done with mine. Like I said, it was still crunchy at the end. I'm hoping the leftovers will be a little more al dente at least. I'll definitely make this again, this time when I have garlic in the house and some better rice.