Todd's Jambalaya

Okay, so in Dust and Cinder we learned about Todd’s Jambalaya dish, something that helped to keep his restaurant popping. Errr… his boyfriend has now opened a restaurant across town from him and because they are both moody as heck, I’m not sure if it will end well or not! But so far it’s going good!  

Here is that dish:

Ingredients:

1.   2 onions

2.   2 green peppers

3.   3 whole garlic cloves (Todd loves garlic! Maybe you can cut it down to one.)

4.   One 12oz pack of Hillshire Farms Beef Smoked Sausage

5.   One Family size Zatarain’s Jambalaya Mix (Todd would never take this shortcut, but we will!)

6.     One pack of shrimp either cooked are raw, tail off. (You can leave the tail on if you like or pull it off yourself if you want to.)

7.   Country Crock (It’s not really butter, but it packs on the flavor in this dish.

8.   One package of chicken breast.

9.   And the secret ingredient! The one thing you must not leave out. Knorr Homestyle Chicken stock. Two tubes.

Preheat oven to 350-400

Season all ingredients with red pepper flakes, Cajun seasoning, and Creole seasoning. Just use your favorite brand and season to taste.

Okay, now that we have the ingredients, the first thing we’ll do is put the chicken in the oven and let it cook for thirty to forty-five minutes, depending on how thick the chicken breasts are. If they are thinly sliced, or if you are using chicken tenders then cut that down to twenty minutes.

Next, we’ll put the rice on. Don’t add any meat! For this just put the recommended amount of water in a pot along with the rice and let it come to a boil.  

Go ahead and add a generous amount of the Country Cock to a large pan and let it melt on medium-low heat. Keep a check on it while you cut up the onions, green peppers, garlic, and smoked sausage.

You could always get ahead of the game and already have these items cut up, something I never seem able to do, though Todd has sous chiefs to help with this part.

Add the onions, green peppers, and sausage to the pan and only add the garlic after the onions and green pepper have started to soften. Stir often and add more Country Crock as needed. Keep watch on this, as you may have to add Country Crock quite often. Keep an eye on the rice! You may have to add more water to the rice as needed. 

Once the onions are translucent the rice should be done, if not take the onions off the heat until the rice is done. Add the rice to the pot with the onions, green peppers, garlic, and sausage, along with a cup of water (May need two) and mix well.

By this time the chicken should be just about done. If not, after the rice is mixed into the pot with the onions, cut the heat down to low, and stir frequently. 

Once the chicken is done, cube it and add it to the pot with everything else. Mix well. Then take two of the little Chicken Stock tubes and open them. Add more water to the pot if needed.

Now I know you're supposed to add chicken stock, but that’s where the little Herr Chicken Stock tubes come in. These things pack a wallop of flavor.    

Once the water boils add the two packs and mix well. Don’t let all the moisture go out! Cook it down some, but don’t cook all the water out. Once the stock is mixed in well, remove from heat, and add the shrimp. Mix the shrimp in well, put the top on and let sit for about seven minutes.

That’s it! Open the pot, spoon some into a bowl and enjoy the yumminess!

Also, if you fix it and like it, leave Todd a comment here to let him know.