Jambalaya and gumbo are two of my favorite dishes. This week I decided to make Jambalaya as our seafood meal, even though it does have some sausage in it as well, so it’s not strictly seafood. While there aren’t the 23 different ingredients I mentioned yesterday (a slight exaggeration on my part) there are quiet a few ingredients, so there is some prep work involved in this recipe. It’s also a great one pot meal with seafood, sausage, rice and vegetables all in one.

Jambalaya

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

8 ounces andouille sausage, sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 onion, chopped fine

1 rib celery, chopped fine

1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped fine

1 yellow bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped fine

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme or 1/8 teaspoon dried

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained with 1/4 cup juice reserved

1 (8 ounce) bottle clam juice

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the andouille and cook until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Transfer the sausage to a paper-towel-lined plate, leaving the fat in the pot. Add the onion, celery, and peppers to the fat in the pot and return to medium heat. Cook, scraping up any browned bits, until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds.

Stir in the rice, salt, and thyme and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes, 1/4 cup reserved tomato juice, clam juice, broth and browned sausage. Bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 25 minutes. stirring occasionally.

Scatter the shrimp over the rice and continue to cook, covered, until the rice is tender and the shrimp have cooked through, about 5 minutes longer. Stir in the parsley before serving.

That’s all there is to it. There are some recipes that use different types of sausage or kielbasa or even ham; use whatever your preference is for you and your family. Also, some recipes call to add some chicken to the pot as well. I have used it before but opted not to put any in this time around. Finally, a lot of recipes call for jalapeno, cayenne or Tabasco sauce right near the end of cooking, which I also do sometimes, but Sean does really like the hot and spicy so this time I am serving the Tabasco separately so you can just add some to your own plate if you wish. Any leftovers I will be sure to have for lunch tomorrow as I love the leftovers from this meal.

Another quick, one pot meal in the books for the day. I was planning to make beef stew tomorrow, but Michelle has to go away on business for a couple of days, so I have bumped it into next week’s meal plan instead. Tomorrow I will write about what is in the plan for next week and maybe find an interesting recipe or two to put up as well just to add to the post. If you have any suggestions of recipes you would like to see, please feel free to comment or drop me a not at IguanaFlats@msn.com. As always, thanks for checking out my blog. I noticed I have had over 500 views of the blog so far, which I think is great and I thank everyone for reading along. Enjoy the rest of your day and your meal this evening!