Living in the South, I have decided that my "Southern Cooking" is fairly non-existant. As a Cali-cooker, I'm not used to cooking with things like Lady Peas, Sweet Potatoes, or Fried Okra... Let alone much of anything fried for that matter. Though I have always been a pretty carb-intensive chef (Italian and Mexican, I will always love you), I have decided that I need to "spice" up my Southern Cooking recipes. I have accepted, of course, that I will never rival Paula Deen's cooking, but I may run across something that surprises those Southern taste buds... kind of like tonight.
My recipe epiphany may have come to me sometime last night after I ate my first fried pickle (which was definitely... interesting) and in between $1 drafts at Squealers (I know, what is a vegetarian doing at a place called Squealers... Let's just say, save your $$ on the side salad it was more like what you might top a burger with). James has been asking me for awhile to make Jambalaya or Gumbo, so I decided to give it a shot. Hey, if Zatarans can do it, so can I right?
I decided to use a Cajun King Jambalaya seasoning packet to help me out.
Ingredients:
4 Italian Sausages (doesn't have to be Italian, but I figured I could use any leftovers for another recipe as well)
3-4 Celery stalks
1 pkg Cajun King Jambalaya mix
White Rice
Olive Oil
Crushed Red peppers
Garlic powder
Onion (I used purple, but a sweet onion would probably be good too)
In a bowl, rehydrate your Cajun King Jambalaya packet by combining 1 3/4 water and stir continuously until well blended.
Take 4 Italian Sausages and cut them into "chunks." Combine the sausage with a bit of Olive oil in a medium sauce pan. Chop up celery and onion and saute with the sausage. Pour about 1/4 cup of your rehydrated Cajun King Jambalaya mix in with the sausage as it is being saute(d). Sprinkle about 1 tsp of crushed red peppers and 1/8 tsp of garlic powder to the mixture. Cook on medium until sausage is no longer pink. (Leave the red peppers out if you don't want it too spicy.
Once the sausage is done, I combined and cooked everything together in my rice cooker. You can choose to cook all of this in a skillet if you prefer, but I figured I would treat my rice cooker like a pseudo-crock pot.
Take the remaining rehydrated Cajun King Jambalaya packet and 1 cup of uncooked rice. Add the sausage/veggie mix to the rice cooker. Add 1/4 cup of water. (For a little extra kick you can add some more red peppers here). Close your rice cooker and start cooking!
Recipe takes about 40 minutes in the rice cooker. Serve by itself or with Texas Toast.
Tonights recipe scored a 5 Star after one bite! I wasn't even sure if he swallowed before giving it the golden rating! He even took a minute to clear his palette w/some Sam Adams Oktoberfest to try another bite to make sure it was actually 5 Stars.
The great thing about this recipe is you can sub for chicken or shrimp as well. Of course, with the sausage I didn't get a chance to taste it, but after the 2nd bite it was a confirmed 5 Star!
Buon Appetit or as we like to say down south "Y'all are fixin' to love this!"
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