{"id":9291,"date":"2011-03-07T04:00:23","date_gmt":"2011-03-07T09:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/\/wp\/?p=9291"},"modified":"2011-03-07T09:40:12","modified_gmt":"2011-03-07T14:40:12","slug":"jambalaya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=9291","title":{"rendered":"Jambalaya"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Tomorrow is Mardi Gras. If I had the time\u2014and the waistline\u2014I\u2019d make a King Cake and maybe some beignets. (I\u2019ve never made beignets, but there\u2019s always next Mardi Gras.)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Instead this past weekend I paid tribute to the holiday with my favorite Louisiana main dish, Jambalaya.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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I first encountered Jambalaya (or a form thereof) in college. The cooks at Mount Holyoke included something they called \u201cCreole Jambalaya\u201d on their monthly menu.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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In general, the food at Mount Holyoke was pretty tasty. As I recall, however, the Jambalaya was neither tasty nor Jambalaya. It was creamed shrimp and some sort of other protein served over rice. I was unimpressed.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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In Knoxville, Tennessee, however, I learned that I like Jambalaya A LOT.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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My roommate at the University of Tennessee, Alice Gagnard, hailed from Alexandria, Louisiana. Alice made fabulous Cajun food.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The gumbos! The po\u2019 boys! The Jambalaya!<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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I have yet to master the craft of gumbo, although I did get a great recipe from Cajun folklorist Barry Ancelet<\/a> a couple of years ago.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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I hope this coming summer to share with you the po\u2019 boys Alice makes with her husband Kevin.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Meanwhile here is a recipe for Jambalaya.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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This dish is appealing on a lot of levels. First, it is relatively inexpensive to prepare since you can mix in a combination of whatever forms of protein suit your budget (or lurk in your refrigerator). In addition to the chicken and sausage below, Jambalaya may be enjoyed with ham, shrimp, and even crawfish.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Second, its form (or lack thereof; it\u2019s a very flexible food) reflects the mixed heritage of Louisiana itself, where French, African, Native American, English, and Spanish influences abound.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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In an article titled \u201cJambalaya by Any Other Name,\u201d<\/a> food and travel writer Andrew Sigal describes his extensive research into the possible origins of the dish. He concludes that different cooks (and fans) may always have different ideas about where it came from.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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He does note that that the Proven\u00e7al term \u201cjambalaia,\u201d from which scholars believe Jambalaya got its name, originally meant \u201ca mish-mash, rabble, or mixture.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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This pretty much sums up Jambalaya as far as I\u2019m concerned. How can one not love preparing a recipe that means \u201crabble\u201d and that sound like \u201cjumble\u201d?<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Happy Mardi Gras! I can\u2019t find most of my Mardi Gras attire, alas, so I leave you with a photo of me from a couple of years ago when I made King Cake<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Mardi Gras Jambalaya<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Ingredients:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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1 pound sausage (for true\u2014but very dominant\u2014Louisiana flavor, use andouille, but you may also use plain old kielbasa), cut into bite-sized pieces
\nextra-virgin olive oil as needed for frying
\n1 medium onion, finely chopped
\n1 to 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
\n1\/2 bell pepper, finely chopped
\n1 clove garlic, finely chopped
\nbutter if needed for frying
\n2 cups cut-up cooked chicken
\n1-1\/2 teaspoons Creole seasoning, plus more if needed
\nchopped hot pepper (fresh or pickled) to taste\u2014start out with 1\/2 teaspoon to a teaspoon; then add more the next time if you want your Jambalaya spicier
\n4 cups chicken stock, divided
\n1-1\/2 cups uncooked rice
\n1 large or 2 small tomatoes, roughly chopped
\n2 cups cooked peas
\nlots of chopped fresh parsley<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Instructions:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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In a heavy Dutch oven brown the sausage pieces. If they are not very fatty and start sticking a lot, splash in a little olive oil. If they are very fatty, drain some of the fat off when they have browned. Remove the sausage and set it aside.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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In the fat (plus a little olive oil and butter if needed) saut\u00e9 the onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic. Cook them until they soften and begin to smell wonderful. Use their juices and the fat in the pan (plus a spatula or wooden spoon) to scoop up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Return the sausage to the pot, along with the chicken, the seasoning, the hot pepper, and 1 cup of the stock. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer gently for 1\/2 hour, stirring from time to time.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Add the remaining stock. Bring the mixture to a boil, and stir in the rice. Return the mixture to boiling, stir, and reduce the heat and cover again.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Simmer\u00a0until the rice is cooked through but not dry, about 1\/2 hour longer. Taste for seasoning and add a little more spice if you like.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Stir in the tomatoes and peas. Sprinkle parsley overall and serve with Tabasco sauce on the side.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Serves 6.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Tomorrow is Mardi Gras. If I had the time\u2014and the waistline\u2014I\u2019d make a King Cake and maybe some beignets. (I\u2019ve never made beignets, but there\u2019s always next Mardi Gras.) \u00a0 Instead this past weekend I paid tribute to the holiday with my favorite Louisiana main dish, Jambalaya. \u00a0 I first encountered Jambalaya (or a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[17,22,42],"tags":[1434,1435,1432,1431,265,1433],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9291"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9291"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9303,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9291\/revisions\/9303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}