jambalaya rice

Egads time flies! I had one recipe left to share from Fathers Day dinner, and this is it. Cajun food has always been kind of mystifying to me - something I'd always bought but never attempted to make on my own because it seemed a bit labor intensive. I mean, there are a lot of ingredients in this! But in reality - I was pleasantly surprised at how simple and quick it was to make this. Basically you dump everything into a pot and cook. This is easy enough to make on a weeknight, and pretty enough to dress up for a special occasion.

Since my awesome shrimp and andouille skewers had the meat/seafood components of a jambalaya, I just made this a rice side dish. To retain the smokiness the ham would have supplied in Ellie's original recipe and to mimic the skewers, I swapped smoked paprika for the regular. I also threw in my leftover tomatoes. This puppy is chock full of veggies and has very little oil - thanks Ellie for making this healthy and tasty! You can, of course, just follow her recipe and add the meat into it and you have yourself a stellar one pot meal, too.

Jambalaya Rice

adapted from Ellie Krieger

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, seeds and ribs removed, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp crushed red chili peppers

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

3/4 tsp salt

ground black pepper to taste

1 can reduced sodium chicken broth

dash of hot sauce

water (about 2/3 of the chicken broth can)

handful or more of chopped cherry tomatoes (optional - these were leftover from the skewers)

1 can diced tomatoes

1 1/2 C long grain white rice

In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat and sautee the onion, garlic, and pepper until soft. Add in the rest of the ingedients except the rice. Stir and bring to a boil. Add in the rice, cover, reduce heat to low, and cook about 25 minutes. Most of the liquid should be absorbed, and rice should be soft. If adding shrimp, add it now, cover, and cook for 5 more minutes.