Jambalaya

[Mayhaw Man]

Jambalaya

Serves 125 as Main Dish.

Jambalaya is normally a one pot dish involving meats and/or seafoods, vegetables for flavoring a texture, and finished with rice.

There are two principle ways of making the dish.

The first way, as in the most common, is to cook down the sausage or meat involved, add the vegetables and tomatoes and cook them down,add seafood at this poin, and then add stock in a proportionate amount to the rice that is to be added at the very end of the dish. This type of jambalaya is known, generally, as "red jambalaya".

The second way is to cook all of the ingredients seperately from the rice and to cook the rice in some savory stock, in this case shrimp stock is used, and then to blend them together GENTLY (rice should be blended with very large wooden spoons by sliding them down the side of the container and lifting up-never pushing down or smashing the rice. Rice is your friend. Be kind to it. There is nothing worse than smooshed, gooey rice. This is them panned up in shallow pans and baked at 350 COVERED tightly with foil, until warmed through (if is not served immediatley-either way it is just as delicious) This is known as "white jambalaya".

This is a very large recipe, and it is great for large parties as you can make the goo one day and the rice on another. In fact, you can make it and freeze the red part (without the shrimp) ahead of time if you need to.

So you will need some time and a big wallet full of money. This is really good and wherever you live in the world, as long as you don't have any complex dietary restrictions, you can enjoy a great dish from Louisiana.

Have fun and enjoy! Remember, you can use the scale button at the bottom of the recipe to decrease or increase quantity.

I made this for a graduation party I "catered."

For more on Jambalaya, please check the Gumbo, Jambalaya, Etouffee, Creole..., Please Advise topic.

• 10 lb smoked sausage, sliced
  
• 10 lb chicken thighs, cubed
  
• 12 c onions, chopped
  
• 3 c diced, celery
  
• 3 c green peppers, chopped
  
• 1-1/2 c yellow bell pepper, cupped
  
• 11-1/2 c red bell peppers, cupped
  
• 12 cloves garlic, chopped
  
• 3 tsp Thyme
  
• 12 bay leaves
  
• 3 tsp Dried basil
  
• 6 tsp salt
  
• 3 tsp Cayenne
  
• 10 1 lb Cans chopped tomatoes
  
• 6 1 lb Cans Rotel Tomatoes
  
• 6 6 oz Cans tomato paste
  
• 3 lemons, halved
  
• 10 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
  
• 15 lb Basmati Rice
  

1)Salt and pepper chicken and then brown in a hot pan with just enough oil to get it started. Remove and set aside.

2) Brown sausage.

3) Add next 11 ingredients and cook for 5 minutes or until onions and bell peppers are wilted.

4) Add the tomato ingredients,the chicken, and the lemons.

5) Bring to a low simmer, uncovered, and simmer for 30 minutes. Stirring occasionally to keep from scorching.

6) Add the shrimp and cook the shrimp for 5 minutes .

7) The rice should be cooked, seperately, as per the cooking instructions for the rice. Rather than cooking the rice in plain water, cook it in a light shrimp or other savory stock.

8) Once the rice is done, while both ingredients are hot, mix as per the instructions above and then either serve or put into pans to be refrigerated or frozen until you are ready for use.

Keywords: Main Dish, Intermediate, Dinner, Seafood, Shrimp

( RG1268 )