Baby, it's STILL cold outside.

I like the cold. Don't get me wrong, I do. But I'm tired of it. My skin is dry, I've packed on a few pounds, and I don't have a lot of warm clothing. Know what I do have? Excellent cold weather food. Well, excellent cold weather recipes than can lead to excellent cold weather food. Skeptical about the excellent-ness? Don't be - I've got the extra pounds to prove it.

One of my favorite things to eat in the fall and winter is jambalaya. I've yet to kind a variety that I don't like. My mom doesn't like jambalaya, so if I want it, I've got to make it myself. I did the box thing for a bit, but then I got a recipe from Bond, Rick Bond. Since making it his way the first time, I've tweaked the recipe just a little. His recipe is still excellent, I'm just a tweaker. I don't know how to leave a good thing alone. I'm seeking help.

Until I get my issues resolved, you get to have my jambalaya recipe. Keep in mind, that any and all (invisible and imaginary) royalties should go to Rick. Here goes -


Ingredients:

1 bag of chicken thighs

rice (doesn't matter how much, not really)

1 package of sausage, chopped into rounds - I use turkey sausage. If I had my choice, I'd use pork. Life just isn't fair sometimes.

1 stick of butter (not margarine, but you could use olive oil), split into thirds.

about a teaspoon of tony's (start with the teaspoon, then add more if desired after cooked)

a bag of pictsweet three peppers and onions. It's in the frozen vegetable section. If you aren't a fan of the frozen option, buy an onion and some bell peppers. In January, the frozen variety is cheaper. If you want to stay traditional, just use an onion. I like color and Vitamin A.

1/2 cup of chopped green onion.

3 chicken flavored bouillon cubes

tabasco, to taste

water (about twice as much rice, plus some - see recipe...)


a big pot



Here's the deal. I'm not a recipe blogger. I like to tell stories and ramble. I will not change my ways. I've tried, I can't. This blog will be a recipe inside rambling. It's just how I roll.

First step, thaw your ingredients. The picture of all the ingredients includes frozen stuff but I thawed it before I used it. Room temperature raw chicken looks kind of gross. I saved us both from gagging. Why? If you thaw the chicken or vegetables while cooking it, it'll produce more water than you want. Not only that, the water will prevent certain things from happening. Like browning. Don't believe me? Try it.

Next, add 1/3 stick of butter to a pan, melt it, and brown the chicken. If your pot won't hold all the chicken, split the butter again so that you have a new pat for each batch of browning chicken. After browning, set aside.

Third, brown the sausage in another 1/3 of the butter. I used turkey sausage so it needed the butter. If you use regular sausage, the butter really isn't necessary. If you do go with a lower fat variety of sausage, make sure you get a good crust on the sausage. It will make a huge difference in the finished dish. Once it is browned, set the sausage aside.



Step 3.5, deglaze the pan. That's right, you get to be all fancy. All you need is some hot water and that deliciousness stuck to the bottom of the pot. Pour about 1/2 inch of water into the pan and scrape. Be careful not to mess up your pan if it is nonstick (if you ARE using a non-stick pan, you probably don't have a need to deglaze - think about it). I had to do it twice. Pour the water that has now been infused with browned goodness on top of the chicken to save it.

Number 4, add the last of the butter to the pan and the vegetables. If you weren't able to get all of the browned bits up with the water, you can once the veggies have softened. Technically, you could just wait and get all of them up with the veggies, but by that point, the browned bits could become black bits. No one wants that.

Now, add all that stuff you just browned back into the pot. Take it easy, don't splash the water. Ms. Lucy says that good cooks are messy cooks. Not that I don't agree with her, but remember who has to clean it up after you get done cooking. That's right, you. Add the water. I start with about 6 cups of water (including the deglazing water). If you want to cut some of that water with chicken broth for more flavor, go right ahead. Same proportions though. Add the cubes of salty chicken goodness. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to simmer, cover, and let cook for 45 minutes. Make sure to stir whenever you think about it.

After 45 minutes, turn off the heat and remove the lid. Let it cool down a bit. Then use your tongs and remove all the chicken thighs and put them on a plate or a large bowl. Go take a nap. After it all has cooled, remove the skin and bones from the chicken and throw them away. Don't get bored and lazy here or you'll regret it. Bones and rubbery skin pieces aren't appetizing. Shred the chicken with your fingers and toss it back into the pot.

Once all the chicken is back at the party, add the rice. I use brown rice because I'm healthy like that (hence all the butter usage). Feel free to use white. Just keep in mind that white rice takes about 2/3 of the time to cook as brown. Know what that means? Frequent taste tests. Add rice. I use a small bag (16 oz). See picture. Wait Tara. That math doesn't work. I thought you were supposed to use the ration of 2 parts water to 1 part rice. Normally, that's true. Notice that that 6 cups from before has been cooking for quite awhile. Those six cups aren't all there anymore. No, 2 cups didn't evaporate off, but I like a little extra water when cooking brown rice. Like I said, it takes longer to cook and therefore, needs more water. Rice isn't going to taste good if it cooks without water. Can rice even cook without water? I don't want to know.

Once the rice is added, bring it back up to a boil, then turn it down to a simmer. Cover for about 15 minutes. Then take the cover off and simmer for about 30 more minutes. Test the rice as often as you want. Be careful not to burn your tongue. After the rice is cooked, turn off the heat. It doesn't matter if there is still some liquid. It'll soak up into the rice as it sits. If you find that you are short on broth, add some water. In about 1/2 cup increments. If you have a can of chicken broth, use that instead of water at this point. It took a lot of time to get that original water to taste good and not like well, water. Adding more will take away from the flavor party that you already have going on in that pot.

Lastly, test for seasonings. If you did it right, you shouldn't need anything. It is better to do the seasonings before the rice is cooked that way the rice will absorb it all. If you need to season, do it in small batches. Salt isn't always our friend. Note that this recipe isn't spicy. If you want it spicy, start with a spicy sausage. If still not enough, pepper it up until your heart is content. You may also notice that there's nothing in this recipe to give it any of the traditional reddish color. Why not? Well, Rick's recipe didn't have anything and tomatoes sometimes give me heartburn. If you want that color, add a can of tomato paste or a cup of v8. Using the multi-colored bell peppers will add some color so it isn't just bland colored bowl of flavor.



I like it, I hope you do too. This recipe feeds an army of 20.