Jambalaya sans Shrimp

- jim Young

When offered a serving of Jambalaya you'd likely be expecting it to include crawfish or shrimp, as at least one of those is a main ingredient most often associated with Jambalaya. This recipe however is for people (like My Shirley) who just don't care for seafood but don't want to miss out on this otherwise tasty delight. 

If you're more of a traditionalist, feel free to add some crawfish or shrimp when you make it.

Serves: 10

Stuff Required:

• 1 lb chicken breast, boneless, skinless
  
• 1 ½ tbsp paprika
• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 1 cup sweet pepper, chopped
• 3 stalks celery chopped
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 can tomatoes, crushed (28 oz/795 ml)
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 ¼ cups chicken broth
• 2 cups rice, brown, long grain
• 2 tsp thyme, ground
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• ½ tsp Tabasco® sauce
• 1 lb sausage (mild, medium or hot) cut into small bite-sized pieces

Do This:

1. Wash chicken and pat dry with a paper towel. 
2. Rub chicken with paprika.
3. Cut up chicken into small, bite-sized pieces.
4. Heat cooking oil in a large frying pan.
5. Add chicken and brown on all sides.
6. Remove chicken and add onion, pepper, celery and garlic.
7. Saute over low heat until the onion is tender. (About 10 minutes.)
8. Dump ingredients in the frying pan into a large cooking pot on medium high on the stove. 
9. Stir in tomatoes, bay leaves, chicken broth, rice, thyme, salt, pepper, hot sauce and sausage.
10. Add chicken and mix well. 
11. Bring to a boil.
12. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for ½ hour.

Creole meets Reggae: For something a little different you might like to add a bit of Jerk Sauce to your Jambalaya. Start with just a small spoon of jerk sauce and mix it in with your single serving of Jambalaya to see what you think. If you decide you'd like to add this Jamaican flavour to the whole pot, you'll have to experiment with how much to add.