My Mother’s Jambalaya

Whenever my family gets together my mom always has a few go to meals that are easy to make for a large group. My goal for this section is to hopefully recreate all of her recipes so that one day I can make them for my friends and family.

However, I am not much of a cook. My go to meals include spaghetti, marinara sauce, and grilled chicken, but I am trying to improve my skills. Therefore, since I am at college and I don’t have her alongside me in the kitchen I needed to start with an easy recipe. Which brings me to the dish I attempted: Jambalaya.

Jambalaya is great because it is an easy dish that everyone loves, plus you can make a lot of it in a short amount of time. Plus it is easy to manipulate in case of allergies, for example my mom includes shrimp in her recipe, but in my recreation I made it without shrimp because I was cooking for my roommates and one of them has a shellfish allergy.

So with that being said let’s get to the cooking:

What you need:

1. Olive oil
2. One medium onion
3. One medium green bell pepper
4. One medium yellow bell pepper
5. One can (14 ½ oz.) fire roasted or regular diced tomatoes, undrained
6. One cup of water
7. One package of Zatarain’s Original Jambalaya Mix
8. 1 lb. of large shrimp, peeled and deveined (optional depending on strategies)
9. 1 pkg. (12 oz.) of andouille sausage (I could not find this particular brand so a chose a Cajun seasoned sausage)

Preparation:

1. Chop a medium sized onion
2. Chop one green and one yellow medium bell pepper
   1. The color of pepper can be interchangeable based on what you have. For example, one night I used a red pepper instead of a yellow one.
3. Cut the sausage into small slices, about ½ an inch

Cooking:

1. In a large deep skillet/pot on medium heat add:
   1. Chopped onion
   2. Chopped bell peppers
2. Cook and stir for about 7 minutes or until the vegetables begin to soften
3. Once the vegetables are soft add in the undrained tomatoes, water, and jambalaya mix and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and let simmer for 15 minutes.
4. As everything in the skillet simmers cook the sausage on a smaller skillet with olive oil and let it sear for a little bit (about 10 minutes).
5. After 15 minutes have passed with the large skillet simmering, add the sausage and shrimp and stir them in.
6. Cover and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the shrimp turns pink and the rice and vegetables are tender.
7. Then remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes, and then you are ready to serve and enjoy!

For those with shellfish allergies:

1. As everything in the skillet simmers cook the sausage on a smaller skillet with olive oil and let it sear for a little bit (about 10 minutes).
2. Once the sausage is finished add it to the rice and vegetables and stir everything together
3. Then remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes, and then you are ready to serve and enjoy!

The chopped bell peppers and onion. I didn’t have a green pepper so I used a red one instead.

This time around I used conecuh sausage.

This is what your vegetables, jambalaya mix, diced tomatoes, and water should look like when mixed together in the skillet/pot.

This is what the final product looks like! Enjoy!