The other day I made this delicious and spicy jambalaya and everyone loved it.  I had been wanting to try a jambalaya for a while, and when I found this recipe on Gimme Some Oven, I knew this was the one.  I love her blog- she always has great recipes!

Anyway, I modified the recipe slightly, only because I didn’t have all the ingredients that I thought I had.  The original recipe called for several classic jambalaya ingredients such as shrimp and okra  – for the original recipe, click here: www.gimmesomeoven.  The jambalaya turned out great and I can’t wait to make it again.  I wanted to make it with brown rice, but I waited too long to get dinner going and I was afraid that the rice would never cook, so I used white rice.  Next time I will plan ahead and try brown rice.  If you decide to make it with brown rice, you will need to increase the cook time and probably add a bit more chicken stock.

California Jambalaya

3 T olive oil

2 ribs celery, chopped

1 white onion, diced

3 small bell peppers, cored and diced – any colors you choose.  I only had red and yellow –  I think green would be a nice addition.

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 to 4 boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 lb. sausage, sliced – I used Polska-Kielbasa

2 cups chicken stock

1 – 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 to 2 T Creole seasoning *

2 tsp. Chili paste *

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. thyme, crushed

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper *

Heat 2 T olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add celery, onion, bell peppers, and garlic.  Saute for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are soft and mostly cooked.  Add the remaining T of olive oil, chicken and sausage and stir to combine.  Continue cooking for about 5 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink and mostly cooked.

Add the chicken stock, tomatoes, rice, and all the spices/seasonings.  Stir well to combine.  Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for about 25 -30 minutes, or until rice is cooked, stirring occasionally so the rice doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pan.

Once the rice is tender, taste and add in any additional seasonings.  You could add the shrimp and okra in at this time – if you like those kinds of things!  : )  Shrimp I would use next time – okra, never!  ewwww!

Remove the bay leaf and serve with garnishes such as fresh parsley, green onions, and hot sauce of desired.

*We like very spicy food – and this was spicy!  You may want to cut back a bit on some of the heat and taste it before adding all the seasoning I added.  Also the original recipe called for jalapenos and by some freak of nature we didn’t have any.  I substituted in the chili paste to make up for the lack of jalapenos.  I loved the hot chili paste flavor, but I would add in jalapenos next time too.

This would be delicious served with corn bread and a salad.

Cindy