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Emeril Lagasse helped to educate a lot of Americans outside of Louisiana about the delicious cuisine from that area. He certainly got my attention more than a quarter-century ago with his colorful Cajun and Creole dishes. In the eyes of this kid from Billings, they may as well have been from a foreign country.
The first jambalaya I ever ate came from a box. I thought it was super tasty — until I went to New Orleans and tasted the real thing. I shouldn’t have been shocked, but it was a night-and-day difference from the boxed version. I vowed to learn the lessons of homemade jambalaya so my kitchen would never rely on the box again.
As I refined a recipe that drew from the flavor balances I preferred, it occurred to me that jambalaya could be prepared in stages. First, the chopping, sautéing, and simmering of that spicy sauce that holds all the recipe’s great flavor. This can be portioned out and frozen for later. Then, when the mood hits you, you bring the sauce back to life, cook some rice, fry up some andouille sausage and/or shrimp, and mix it all together. This save-for-later approach comes in handy on nights when doing a lot of cooking from scratch just isn’t in the cards.
But the traditional way is to cook jambalaya all at once, and there’s nothing wrong with that. And it does help to marry all those amazing flavors together. But since we live in a world where a weeknight meal in a pinch comes in handy, jambalaya has become one of our family’s favorite freezer meals for food on the fly. Unorthodox? Sure, but still ridiculously tasty.
One extra reason to love this dish is that it’s loaded with veggies in the form of the Creole “holy trinity” of onion, celery, and green bell pepper. Once you toss in the chicken, sausage, and/or shrimp, it really has something for almost everyone. With this recipe in your lineup, you’ll never go back to boxed.
So make a big batch, enjoy some the day you make it, and portion out the rest for the nights to come when you have less time. Your future self will thank you for having taken the time to cook something special for later.
JAMBALAYA RECIPE
Serves 10-12 people
1 large onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 large green bell pepper, diced
3 bay leaves
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
two 14.5 oz. cans of petite diced tomatoes
one 15 oz. can of tomato sauce
red Tabasco sauce
1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves removed from stems
1 pound chicken tenderloins
2 cups water
andouille sausage
shrimp
fresh scallion
paprika
granulated garlic
vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
Dust the chicken tenderloins with a bit of regular paprika, granulated garlic, salt, and pepper. In a large cast iron Dutch oven over medium-high heat, sear the chicken tenders in a bit of vegetable oil on both sides for a few minutes to give it some color. Remove the chicken and place on a plate. It will finish cooking later in the sauce.
Turn the heat on the Dutch oven down to medium and add about 3 tbsp of vegetable oil. Throw in your diced onion, celery, and green bell pepper and some salt and pepper. Sweat the veggies for about 15 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, thyme, and bay leaves and cook another two minutes. Add your canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, hot sauce, and two cups of water. Bring to a simmer. Cover with a lid, reduce heat to low, and allow to cook for 20 minutes. Check for seasoning and spice levels and adjust according to your taste with salt and hot sauce.
Place the chicken in the Dutch oven and cook for another 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the jambalaya base to cool to room temperature before you portion it into freezer-safe containers. Remove the three bay leaves from the base and shred the chicken with two forks. Portion into sizes of your choosing. (I use about 2/3 cup of the sauce for every cup of cooked rice when I dish it up.)
When it comes time to eat the stored jambalaya, cook some long-grain rice as you gently bring the sauce up to temperature. You can add a bit of water if the sauce looks too thick. Fry up some sliced andouille sausage and/or shrimp to add to the sauce base. Mix your sauce and rice together, and top with andouille and/or shrimp and some fresh scallion.
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