Tremendous Jambalaya
Prep
20m
Cook
50m
Total
70m
Bigly says
Jambalaya. JAMBALAYA. Before anyone writes me an angry email — and people DO, you wouldn't believe the emails, big strong men, tough guys, accountants, they write me emails about RICE — yes, jambalaya is in the soups category. Why? Because I said so. Because the categories are MY categories, and one-pot stew-adjacent rice dishes belong in soups, period. End of discussion.
Now. The greatest one-pot rice dish in human civilization, hands down. The paella people will fight me on this. The biryani people will fight me on this. The risotto people are too polite to fight but they're thinking it. Let them all come. They lose. They lose every time. It's a slaughter. Jambalaya has SAUSAGE. Jambalaya has SHRIMP. Jambalaya has CHICKEN. Three proteins. THREE. The paella people can't even count to three without arguing about whether chorizo counts. A guy named Ramón taught me a version of this in a kitchen the size of a closet outside Baton Rouge. He didn't talk much. He didn't need to. The pot did the talking, and the pot was eloquent.
Here's the secret. The one nobody tells you. You TOAST the rice. Toast it in the fat that rendered off the andouille, the dark spicy fat coating the bottom of the pot. You don't just dump the rice in and walk away. You stir it. You smell it. You wait for the grains to turn translucent at the edges. THAT is the difference between jambalaya and risotto-with-Cajun-seasoning, which is what most blogs are making, and they should be ashamed. Food chemists agree — and I've talked to food chemists, the kind with PhDs, took one of them ninety minutes to explain why this works, worth every minute — toasted rice grains hold their shape and absorb stock without going to mush. Easy math.
Ingredients
- 12 ozandouille sausage, sliced into coins
- 1 lbboneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 lblarge shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 2 tbspolive oil
- 1 largeyellow onion, diced
- 1green bell pepper, diced
- 3 stalkscelery, diced
- 5 clovesgarlic, minced
- 2 cupslong-grain white rice(long-grain, not jasmine, not basmati, this is not Sunday)
- 1 (14.5 oz) cancanned diced tomatoes
- 3 cupslow-sodium chicken stock
- 2 tbsptomato paste
- 2 tspsmoked paprika
- 1 tspdried oregano
- 1 tspdried thyme
- 1/2 tspcayenne pepper
- 2bay leaves
- 1.5 tspkosher salt
- 1 tspblack pepper
- 1 bunchscallions, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cupfresh parsley, chopped
- to tastehot sauce (for serving)
Steps
- 1
Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the andouille and brown for 4-5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving the rendered fat in the pot.
- 2
Season the chicken with a pinch of salt and pepper. Brown in the same pot for 4-5 minutes, working in batches if needed. Remove and set aside with the sausage.
- 3
Reduce heat to medium. Add the onion, bell pepper, and celery. Cook 6-8 minutes until softened. Stir in the garlic and cook 1 minute.
- 4
Stir in the tomato paste, smoked paprika, oregano, thyme, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Cook 1 minute to bloom the spices.
- 5
Add the rice and stir to coat in the fat. Toast for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, until the grains turn translucent at the edges.
- 6
Pour in the diced tomatoes and chicken stock. Add the bay leaves. Return the sausage and chicken to the pot. Stir once to combine.
- 7
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer. Cover tightly and cook undisturbed for 20 minutes.
- 8
Uncover, lay the shrimp on top, replace the lid, and cook 5-7 more minutes until the shrimp are pink and opaque and the rice is tender.
- 9
Remove from heat. Discard the bay leaves. Let rest covered for 5 minutes. Fluff gently with a fork.
- 10
Stir in half the scallions and parsley. Serve in bowls, topped with remaining scallions, parsley, and a few dashes of hot sauce.
One more thing
This is what dinner is supposed to look like. One pot. Three proteins. Rice that has personality. Most chefs are afraid to put sausage, chicken, AND shrimp in the same pot — they call it 'too busy,' they call it 'crowded,' they don't understand that the WHOLE POINT is the conversation between the proteins. Food that fills a room. Food that makes the neighbors knock on the door because they smelled it from across the street. That happens to me, by the way. Constantly. They knock. I open the door. I give them nothing. They leave humbled. Now go eat.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Tremendous Jambalaya.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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