Jason's World Famous Jambalaya
This is my world-famous Super Bowl Jambalaya. Always the highlight of the day (except on days when the Patriots win the Super Bowl. Then that's the highlight.)
How long does this take?
This takes a little more than an hour or so from end to end. You will have time to clean up all the prep dishes while the rice mixture is cooking.
Ingredients
- 1 Onion, trimmed and quartered lengthwise
- 1 Celery, cut crosswise into quarters
- 1 Red Bell Pepper, quartered
- 5 Garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 tsp Vegetable Oil
- 4 Bone-in chicken thighs with the skin on
- 8 oz Andouille Sausage, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
- 1.5 Cups Rice
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Thyme
- 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1 Can (14.5 oz) Diced Tomatoes
- 1 Cup Clam Juice
- 1.5 Cups Chicken Broth
- 2 Bay Leaves
Directions
- Assemble all the ingredients. Trust me, you want to have your mise en place in good shape for this. There's a lot of moving parts
- Chop the onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic in a food processor until it's chopped fine. You can also do this by hand, but the food processor will make this go a lot faster.
- Heat the oil in a large pot on medium-high heat. I use my Le Creuset dutch oven for this, but any large and sturdy pot will do
- Add the chicken to the pot, skin-down and cook for about five minutes
- Flip the chicken over and cook for another three minutes or so. It should be golden brown
- Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.
- Reduce the heat on the pot to medium
- Cook the sausage, stirring frequently, until browned, about three minutes
- Remove the sausage to a plate covered with paper towels and set aside.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low
- Add the vegetables and cook, stirring occasionally, for about four minutes
- Add the rice, salt, thyme and cayenne pepper, stir everything together and cook for a minute or so
- Add the tomatoes (and their juice), clam juice, broth, bay leaves and sausage to the pot. Stir to combine
- Remove the skin from the chicken, then place the chicken pieces, skinned side down on the rice
- Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes
- Stir once, keeping the chicken on top of the rice mixture
- Replace the cover, then simmer for about 15 minutes more
- If you want, shred the chicken and mix it in with the rice mixture. I usually just serve the chicken pieces whole, on top of the rice.
Thoughts
Jambalaya is traditionally made with shrimp as well, but not everyone in the family likes shrimp, so I omit it. That also makes the meal quite a bit cheaper.
Adjust the level of cayenne pepper to adjust the level of spiciness
You really want to get all the pieces in place before you start the actual cooking. Have all the bowls and plates grouped by when they go into the pot.
This keeps amazingly well. Jambalaya leftovers for the rest of the week!
This seems a lot more complicated than it really is. Give it a try, I think you'll like it!
This variation is adapted from the Cook's Illustrated 'New Best Recipe' Cookbook.
