One of my readers, Sassy Molassy, mentioned on the last post that she had a great gumbo recipe ( which I would love to try by the way) for leftover turkey. This got me thinking about Louisiana and the phenomenal food that can be found everywhere in that state. Now I haven’t been to the great Cajun state since I’ve had children, but I vividly remember all of the flavors found there. My hubby and I spent several days there while we were dating. We had no agenda what so ever but instead would walk out of the hotel every morning and just follow our nose. We never had to go very far to find exactly what we needed to start our day in the Big Easy. It was usually simple, always spicy, and generally came with a cocktail. I’m hoping that we will go back one day soon ( maybe anniversary, honey?). So with all of this and Sassy Molassy on my mind, I walked into Kroger and found a pound of shrimp on sale and decided it was meant to be.
Jambalaya
Feel free to replace the meat with whatever you have on hand. Traditionally, spicy sausage, like Andouille, and shrimp or crawfish are used.
1/2 lb cubed cooked ham
1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium green pepper, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/8 -1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1 1/2 regular long grain rice
1 can or 1 3/4 c. chicken broth
1 1/4 water
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. thyme
1 can tomatoes, drained and chopped
hot sauce
In a large Dutch oven, cook ham until browned. remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Add onion, celery, green pepper to the pan drippings and cook 10 minutes, or until tender. Add garlic and cayenne cook 1 minute. Add rice, cook and stir 1 minute. Stir in ham, water, broth, salt, and thyme. Heat to boiling , reduce heat and cover, simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, cover and cook 5 minutes. Add shrimp, cover and cook 5 minutes or until shrimp are just opaque. Serve with hot sauce and some crusty bread.
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb cubed cooked ham
- 1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 1 medium green pepper finely chopped
- 1 stalk celery finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove finely chopped
- 1/8 -1/4 t. cayenne pepper
- 1 1/2 regular long grain rice
- 1 can or 1 3/4 c. chicken broth
- 1 1/4 water
- 1/4 t. salt
- 1/8 t. thyme
- 1 can tomatoes drained and chopped
- hot sauce
Instructions
- In a large Dutch oven, cook ham until browned. remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Add onion, celery, green pepper to the pan drippings and cook 10 minutes, or until tender. Add garlic and cayenne cook 1 minute. Add rice, cook and stir 1 minute. Stir in ham, water, broth, salt, and thyme. Heat to boiling , reduce heat and cover, simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, cover and cook 5 minutes. Add shrimp, cover and cook 5 minutes or until shrimp are just opaque. Serve with hot sauce and some crusty bread.
Nutrition
We used to go to NOLA pretty regularly before kids and spent part of our honeymoon there. I adore the food! I will have to try this recipe.
Sadly, “recipe” is too strong a word for my lazy cheater’s gumbo. I basically make the stock from the turkey carcass, brown some sliced up cajun smoked sausage with some of “the holy trinity” (onion, celery, and green pepper), pour in the stock, throw in a couple boxes of Zatarain’s gumbo rice mix, an extra half cup of rice or so, a little Cholula, and some frozen veggies for gumbo if no one I’m feeding has an aversion to okra (if so I leave the veggies out). If you don’t want to use the mix, you can easily make a roux in the browning step, then use your own rice and spices. Honestly, though, the Zatarain’s is pretty good.