Saturday, May 2, 2009

Chicken Andouille Sausage Jambalaya




















1/2 lb andouille sausage
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup of rice
1 tomato diced
1 onion small diced
1 celery stalk medium diced
1 green pepper medium diced
2 jalapenos finely diced
3 cloves of garlic finely diced
3 bay leaves
Herbs de Provence
Cayenne pepper to taste
Kosher salt and pepper
High temperature oil

Cook andouille sausage over medium heat in a medium sized pot (a dutch oven works best). There is no need for oil as the sausage has plenty. Add onion, celery and bell pepper and saute for a few minutes until softened. Add garlic and saute for another minute or so. Add the rest, bring to boil and simmer until the rice is cooked.

I found this recipe over at culinary disaster and modified it. I love chicken andouille sausage but had made lentil soup a few times and was looking for something new. That and I was trying to use up ingredients I had on hand. I had no green bell pepper so I used carrot instead since I have so many on hand from the vegetable delivery. I also used the Salish smoked salt I have on hand. It really adds a lot to these dishes. For the record, I know this probably isn't real jambalaya because it doesn't have shrimp but I'm not a shrimp fan and it's delicious anyway!

Pico de Gallo

2 cups tomatoes (seeded and chopped)
1/4 cup onion (chopped)
1 jalapenos (seeded and chopped)
1 clove garlic (chopped)
1 lime (juice)
1 handful cilantro (chopped)
pinch cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Thanks to Kevin at Closet Cooking (one of my favorite cooking blogs) for the recipe!

Go easy on the cilantro. Too much can overpower the salsa. It doesn't get better than dipping that first chip into salsa you just chopped up!