I spent my college years fattening up in the beautiful city of New Orleans. The ultimate triumvirate of food, booze and good times make this one of the best places on earth seriously. So this past weekend I brought that triumvirate together again, in my teeny tiny apartment in Washington, DC!
The recipe I am going to share with you is not your traditional jumbalaya necessarily, but it tasted damn good so lay off, ok?! The reason I used this recipe in the first place is due to a series of events that began the fall of 2007, when my roommate moved away. I was very sad, but excited to find out that she left me one very decrepit, but working crock pot! There is nothing easier or more homey than a meal ladled steamily out of a crock pot. I used to visit my grandparent's house for Sunday Lunch, a meal that never wavered from pot roast with potatoes, onions, celery and carrots that had been simmering since before church in the morning.
Thus, I found myself scouring the interwebs for delicious slow cooker recipes. I finally found one, from Robin Miller on the Food Network. With recipe in hand, I invited a bunch of friends over for a feast of jumbalaya, corn bread and copious amounts of wine! A friend contributed some choco chip pumpkin pancakes for dessert and we had a fantastic time! That was Jumbalaya Feast #1.
So due to popular demand and the falling leaves outside, Jumbalaya Feast #2 came to fruition last weekend. This time I used some chicken stock I made and froze the week before (another potential post that is waiting in the wings), which made an incredible difference in the flavor. Homeade stock takes jumbalaya to the max(imum flavor capacity!). I whipped up some cornbread, ladled the Jumbalaya over rice, and splashed with tobasco. It was devoured at lightning fast speed, leaving only a little room for the many bottles of wine to fill any remaining stomach space.
Here are a few of the people who consumed it, who all happen to be men (my lady compatriot Kelsey had already moved on to another location). Sorry the pic is so blurry, but I didn't have time to adjust the exposure for fear that this perfect tableau might be disturbed.
Because I know you all want your dinner guests reduced to slavering, ravenous beasts (no offense to those guests who might read this) I recommend you follow this recipe:
Slow Cooker Jambalaya
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 pound andouille sausage, diced
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons Cajun or Creole seasoning
1 teaspoon hot sauce
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 pound frozen peeled and cooked shrimp, thawed
2 cups cooked rice
In a slow cooker, combine chicken, sausage, tomatoes, onion, green pepper, celery, and chicken broth. Stir in oregano, Cajun seasoning (I use Tony Cachere's), hot sauce (I used Tobasco), bay leaves, and thyme. Naturally (because I DO WHAT I WANT), I did not measure any of these ingredients but guesstimated. (I also doubled it to feed the masses. If you do this, one 28 oz can of diced tomatoes will suffice, as will 1 lb of shrimp...otherwise you might overflow your crockpot! Mine was pushing the limit...)
Cover, and cook on LOW for 7 hours or on HIGH for 3 hours. Stir in the thawed shrimp, cover and cook until the shrimp is heated through, about 5 minutes. Discard bay leaves and spoon mixture over cooked rice.
So that's that. All in all, a lovely fall night!
