Louisiana Jambalaya

The Method for Louisiana Jambalaya

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1. Brown the sausage in the oil in a heavy lidded pot over medium-high heat for 6 minutes. Lift out.

   Mark done Start 6 min timer

2. Season the chicken with half the Cajun seasoning and brown it for 5 minutes. Lift out.

   Mark done Start 5 min timer

3. Add the onion, pepper and celery — the holy trinity — and cook 8 minutes until softened and picking up the fond.

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4. Add the garlic, remaining Cajun seasoning, thyme, paprika and cayenne and cook 1 minute.

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5. Stir in the rice and toast it for 3 minutes until the grains look translucent at the edges.

   Mark done Start 3 min timer

6. Add the tomatoes, stock, bay leaves and salt, and return the sausage and chicken with any juices.

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7. Bring to the boil, stir once, then cover tightly and reduce to the lowest heat. Cook 20 minutes without lifting the lid.

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8. Scatter the prawns over the surface, replace the lid, and cook 6 minutes more off the heat until they are pink and the rice has absorbed everything.

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9. Fluff with a fork, scatter with spring onions, and serve with hot sauce.

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Related guide: Choosing rice.

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Things to Watch For

1. Do not stir after the lid goes on. This is the difference between jambalaya and a rice porridge.
2. A crust on the bottom of the pot, the socarrat equivalent, is prized. Scrape it up and mix it through.
3. Andouille is worth seeking out, but any coarse smoked sausage works.

Changing the Recipe

• Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
• Fresh herbs work in place of the dried thyme at roughly three times the quantity — a teaspoon of dried is about a tablespoon of fresh, chopped.

The Short Version

The rice cooks in a measured amount of stock and is not stirred once the lid is on — stirring releases starch and turns jambalaya into a risotto, which it emphatically is not. Browning the sausage first leaves rendered fat and fond in the pot, and that is the flavour base everything else builds on.

What to Serve It With

Cornbread and hot sauce · A cold beer · Collard greens on the side

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Creamy Coleslaw, Philadelphia Soft Pretzels, Boston Baked Beans.

Keeping Louisiana Jambalaya

Refrigerate up to 3 days. Reheat with a splash of stock, covered. Freezes 2 months but the prawns suffer.

What's in a Serving

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

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