Posted on 06/01/2017 4:15:46 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
Last week I was going through a big sheaf of recipes that I’d clipped or printed-out over the years but never tried. I found an America’s Test Kitchen recipe for Chicken and Shrimp Jambalaya, and decided to try it.
I’d never had Jambalaya, and I suspect that this is a mild, basic version – it turned out very well, though we thought it should have been ‘hotter’. This was probably because our supermarket Andouille was probably not as hot as the more authentic, ‘artisanal’ ones are.
We altered the original recipe slightly, using two peppers, one red and one green; and my husband believes it needs more onion, more garlic, more HEAT. Anyway, here’s the recipe as we altered it and experimented:
Chicken-Shrimp Jambalaya
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 medium rib celery, finely diced
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
5 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 tsps. Olive oil
4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
8 ounces of Andouille sausage, cut into ¼ inch pieces
1-1/2 C. white long-grain rice
1 tsp. table salt
½ tsp. minced, fresh thyme (or ¼ tsp. dried)
¼ tsp. Cayenne (more to taste)
1 14-1/2 oz. can diced tomatoes, with ¼ C. juice reserved
1 Cup bottled clam juice
1-1/2 C. chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1 lb. medium to large shrimp, peeled
2 T. minced fresh parsley leaves
Heat oil in large, heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat; add chicken, skin side down, and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Turn and cook the other side about 3 minutes longer. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Reduce heat to medium and add Andouille, cooking and stirring frequently until brown (about 3 minutes). Transfer sausage with slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towel and set aside.
Reduce heat to medium low and add vegetables; cook, stirring occasionally, and scraping bottom with spoon, until veggies have softened (4 minutes).
Add rice, salt, thyme, cayenne and cook, stirring frequently until rice is coated with fat, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, reserved tomato juice, clam juice, chicken broth, bay leaves, and browned sausage to pot.
Bring to boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir once, keeping chicken on top, skinned side down. Replace cover and continue cooking at simmer until chicken is no longer pink when cut into with paring knife – about 10 minutes more.
Transfer chicken to a clean plate and set aside. Add shrimp on top of rice and continue to cook until rice is fully tender and shrimp are opaque and cooked through, about 5 minutes more.
While shrimp are cooking, shred chicken. When shrimp are done, remove from heat, remove bay leaves, and stir in the parsley and chicken. Serve immediately.
(If you’d rather, the original recipe suggests using the food processor to process the roughly chopped onion, celery, peppers and garlic until chopped fine fine. We didn't see the sense in doing that, and then having to wash the processor.)
Next, I want to try Shrimp Creole! And if anyone has a favorite recipe, please post.
While browsing for something else, I happened to hit on this recipe for a sweet type of ‘strata’, that looks very good: Overnight Blueberry French Toast:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/15057/overnight-blueberry-french-toast/”
-JT
Yes. I remember a handsome young man trying to teach me to shoot pool, at one of those parties. I think I thought about him for months afterward ;-)
Yeah, I don’t like to brown my roux.
http://www.realcajunrecipes.com/recipe/roux/
Here’s the recipe we were given for Gumbo which talks about the proper way to make the roux...
New Orleans School of Cooking
GUMBO
INGREDIENTS:
1 C. oil
1 chicken, cut up or de-boned
1 & 1/2 lbs. Andouille Sausage
1 C. flour
TRINITY: (Next three items)
4 C. chopped onions
2 C. chopped celery
2 C. chopped green pepper
1 Tbsp. chopped garlic
8 C. stock or flavored water
2 C. chopped green onions
Cooked Rice
Joe’s Stuff Seasoning (or any good Cajun seasoning mix)
Gumbo File’ *
PROCEDURE:
Season and brown chicken in oil (lard, bacon drippings) over medium heat. Add sausage to pot and sauté with chicken. Remove both from pot.
Make a roux with equal parts of oil (must be free of food particles to avoid burning) and flour. (Note: do not use olive oil. Any other oil is fine.) Oil should be smoking hot before adding flour, & roux must be whisked continuously to keep from scorching. Make sure it gets to a shade approximating milk chocolate.
Add onions, celery, and green pepper. Add garlic to the mixture and stir continuously. After vegetables reach desired tenderness, return chicken and sausage to pot and cook with vegetables, continuing to stir frequently. Gradually stir in liquid and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for an hour or more. Season to taste with Joe’s Stuff Seasoning.
Approximately 10 minutes before serving, add green onions. Serve gumbo over rice or without rice, accompanied by French bread.
*File’ - A fine green powder of young dried ground sassafras leaves, used in gumbo for flavor and thickening. It may be placed on the table for individuals to add to their gumbo if they wish. 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. per serving is recommended.
Note: Okra is a traditional ingredient to Gumbo, but some people avoid it due to the slimy texture. To remove sliminess, sauté in oil or butter with a dash of vinegar.
Frankly, I remember them telling us to ‘roast’ the flour in the pan BEFORE adding the oil to get the flour properly browned, but the instructions say otherwise. Maybe that was a tip if you were worried about getting the oil to the right temp.
They didn’t specify. I don’t recall that what we cooked was very hot. If you like it hot, go with hot! :-)
The Joe's HOT Stuff is a newer product, for many years they just offered the original. Maybe not quite as hot as some of the other "Cajun" spice mixes, but very flavorful. Most of the New Orleans School of Cooking recipes refer to the original.
BTW, check prices between the New Orleans School of Cooking website store and Amazon - last I looked, the Amazon sources were marking it up.
Thanks very much, Twotone. Printing out, seriously going to round up ingredients next week and give it a try. We have some very nice stores in town that might carry Joe’s Stuff and if not, I will order. Have AMZ Prime, so get fast delivery.
Will me good luck and a fair wind...going to take at least that to do this right.
I made polenta and chicken cacciatore tonight. I like the creamy version better these days, must be the influence of my living in grits country. About 4 cups water to a half cup polenta, 1 tsp salt, and cook on low for about a half hour, 40 min. Then a half cup grated asiago stirred in until melted, and it was so yummy, if I say somyself, that I didn’t even want the cacciatore sauce over it.
Good luck with your cooking endeavors!
Yes, Chris was a regular Yankee lightweight when it came to spices. Nice enough guy, on air, yet I was surprised to read he's on a third marriage. I've liked the new season shows without him and I've subscribed to his new venture's magazine, Milk Street. He's in production with a new TV program for PBS that will start this fall.
My favorite New Orleans cookin....
Barbecued Shrimp
Makes 2 servings
ingredients
2 dozen large shrimp with heads and shells, about 1 pound
¼ pound (1 stick), + 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, in all
1½ teaspoons minced fresh garlic
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Seafood Magic® (recipe below)
½ cup shrimp stock (I use chicken with any shrimp shells I have boiled in it.)
¼ cup beer, unopened but at room temperature
how to prepare
Rinse the shrimp in cold water and drain them well. Pinch off and discard the portion of the head from the eyes forward (including the eyes, but not the protruding long spine above the eyes). Leave as much as possible of the orange-colored shrimp fat from the head attached to the body. Set aside.
Combine 1 stick of the butter, the garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and Seafood Magic® or Blackened Redfish Magic® in a large skillet over high heat. When the butter melts, add the shrimp. Cook for 2 minutes, shaking (versus stirring) in a back-and-forth motion. Add the remaining 5 tablespoons butter and the stock. Cook and shake the pan for 2 minutes. Add the beer and cook and shake the pan for 1 minute more. Remove from the heat and serve immediately in bowls with lots of French bread on the side, or on a platter with cooked rice (I add sautéed onions, celery, and bell peppers “The holy trinity”) mounded in the middle and the shrimp and sauce surrounding it.
Note: If you can’t find shrimp with heads, go ahead and use headless shrimp. Your dish will still be great.
Copyright© 1995 by Paul Prudhomme
Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Seafood Magic®
1t cayenne
1t black pepper
1/2t salt
1/2t crushed red pepper
1/2t dried thyme
1/2t dried rosemary
1/8t dried oregano
“chicken cacciatore”
Haven’t made that in years but use to love it. Recipe?
Oh sorry, I just kind of winged it. I cook some chicken thighs in olive oil until mostly done. Then added sliced onions. Then garlic when those were all most tender. Then green and red peppers. And then some diced tomatoes. I think I added a tablespoon or two of tomato paste To make the sauce richer. Does that sound about right? :-)
Now that sounds yummy. Copied and clipped :-) But… What makes it barbecued?
JT - If you enjoy carrot cake, this overnight French toast might be to your liking.
http://honestcooking.com/baked-carrot-cake-french-toast/
And on that same site is this
How to Cook Covfefe – 10 Best Tips
http://honestcooking.com/cook-covfefe-10-best-tips/
It all started with a tweet from the famous über foodie that brought us Well Done Steak Served with Ketchup, and within hours, the Internet was exploding with requests for the best (the BEST) covfefe recipes. Surprisingly, it seemed like a lot of people had never heard of this fabulous ingredient, much less tried cooking with it.
But fear not, your friends at Honest Cooking are here to guide you through the jungle that is covfefe. What are the dos and don’ts of this delicious food? How should you cook it? How should you buy and prepare it? We’ve got you covered, with a list of ten things you need to know to get started cooking (and taking pictures of) the trendiest food in the world!
I am glad I visited New Orleans before keeping kosher. Ha! My favorite thing was K Paul’s. I was in awe of Paul Prudhomme and he was in the house the night we were there. One of my favorite memories. I ordered the crawfish etouffée because I’d been peeling those tails (ripping finger skin off) for a couple years in a hotel kitchen. I knew how much work went into it. And his sauce was to die for.
I do love and make a jambalaya now, with no shrimp or seafood, and beef andouille. Mmmmm.
When in doubt, go for the heat..............
“Oh sorry, I just kind of winged it.”
LOL! That’s how I cook! But thanks.
As far as why the shrimp is called “barbecued” I don’t have a clue!! LOL again but it is damn tasty!
Oh I forgot the Italian seasoning too. It has to taste Italian somehow!
Or sometimes just oregano, depending on my mood
Barbecued Shrimp
***************************
THAT’s not BBQ! ...(no offense intended toward you, lizma2; just complaining about the recipe heading).
BBQ requires slow cooking from heat and smoke for hours while off of a flame or coals. Shrimp can’t be cooked that way.
I know some folks tend to call it BBQ when it’s really grilling, but that recipe isn’t even grilling.
My son had his last final today so we celebrated with huge homemade hamburgers and these. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/12/the-best-roast-potatoes-ever-recipe.html
Supposed to be the best roast potatoes ever. I think they are pretty darn good. First time making them. Used lots of garlic but it was hard to get the garlic to stay on the dry potatoes at the end. Wonder what would happen if you baked them with the garlic, maybe the garlic gets burnt?
A little harder to make but really good, crunchy crisp outside, soft and fluffy inside.
Why was that Moroccan chickpeas recipe so terrible? What could have gone wrong, or what did the recipe want you to do? It sounds good.
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