Filed under: Recipes — Posted by: Baden on Nov 19, 2005
Jambalaya, a-crawfish pie and-a file gumbo,
’Cause tonight I’m gonna see my ma cher amio,
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-oh,
Son of a gun, we’ll have big fun on the bayou.
Lyrics from “Jambalaya” written by Hank Williams (1952)
When you’re making this recipe, you can’t help but think of this song as it’s seems so appropriate to the spirit of this dish. Originally a version of the Spanish dish paella, jambalaya is a spicy Louisiana recipe that I have made several times and has always been a favourite of ours.
[continue reading "Jambalaya - Me Oh My Oh" ...]
The recipe that I’ve been making comes from the same recipe book called
Hot Chicken that my friend Angie gave me that has the
Spicy Caribbean Chicken Soup recipe that Barb and I love.
Sidebar: we’re making the spicy Caribbean chicken soup tonight!
Between these two recipes, I can definitely say that I’ve gotten a lot of good mileage out of this recipe book. I definitely recommend adding it to your collection.
The first 3 or 4 times that I made this jambalaya recipe, it never turned out the way I wanted it to as the rice was often still hard in the middle section of the pot. I ended up rereading the details and it turned out that I was using too large of a pot and should have been using only a large skillet. Once I changed over (I actually had to go out and buy a 12″ skillet just for this recipe) everything turned out perfectly from that point forward.
The combination of all of the spices and fresh herbs gives an amazing aroma when served on the table. While it would be easier to use boneless/skinless chicken thighs, I find that the bone and skin adds an extra flavour so the minor extra inconvenience eating it is more than made up with the extra taste.
One word of caution: the recipe book that this came from is called Hot Chicken for a reason! The seasonings add a bit of a kick so if you’re not used to spicy food you may wish to tone things down a bit. Personally, I would consider this to be criminal but maybe I’m just a purist. When you’re eating a Louisiana Cajun dish like this, the kick is what’s it all about. 
You can find the recipe for Jambalaya here.
Baden