Shrimp Jambalaya

Quick post of the day week…sorry about that.

I made this a few weeks ago but I kind of screwed it up. I didn’t have the right kind of sausage, or the peppers, so I used a jambalaya rice box mix thing with dehydrated peppers in it. I was in a bind, don’t hold it against me.

The Jambalaya was good, but I wouldn’t put it at great yet. I feel like it’s still missing something, so I’ve got another version up my sleeve that tosses chicken into the mix as well, but seeing as I haven’t made it yet, and most likely won’t get to it until the new year, I figured I’d start off by posting this one. It is Kitchen Trials after all, right. Besides, Bo was quite a fan. He tends to lean more towards the less “seasoned” meals, so for those of you out there that don’t need flavor and spice to carry you though every bite, you just might love this!

I’m including the recipe as it’s meant to be, so ignore the few missing ingredients from my pictures.

Get your sausage ready. I cut it into ½” slices, then into quarters. I also didn’t spend much time worrying about how perfect these chunks were. Clearly.

I’m also getting much more comfortable de-tailing (not a word, I realize this but am going with it, let’s add inventing a word that makes it into the Oxford dictionary to my bucket list) shrimp. They are way cheaper to buy simply de-veined, and the tails pop right off once they’re defrosted.

This would also be the time to show you my onion and pepper chopped up. I didn’t have the pepper, and I forgot to take a picture of the onion. Oops.

Get your oil shimmering in the pot, then add in the sausage (I also didn’t have Andouille sausage on hand, my biggest regret. It’s about 90 minute drive for me to get it, so I was working with what the supermarket had on hand. It wasn’t good enough. I’ll be making a trip at some point in the near future because I’ve got an incredible corn chowder to make but I need Andouille for it too). Any way, cook the sausage until it’s nice and brown on the edges.

Beautiful! Once you get it to this point, get it onto a paper towel, but leave as much of the fat in the pan as you can.

Now get the onion (and celery and bell pepper, which I didn’t have), into the pot and cook until softened, about 5 minutes, scraping up all the brown bits that you can with a wooden spoon.

Perfect. This is the time to add in the garlic and cook it for about 15 seconds, just until you can smell it.

Stir in the rice, salt and thyme, and cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Add the tomatoes, tomato juice, clam juice (didn’t have this either…this was really half a jambalaya), chicken broth and the browned sausage. Bring it to a boil, scraping up any brown bits that are left, then reduce the heat to low, cover it, and let it simmer for 25 minutes. Stir it a couple of times while it’s simmering though.

This is what you’ve got now: Perfectly cooked rice and zero liquid left pooling in the pot. Awesome.

Now, place the shrimp on top of the rice, but don’t mix it in. Cover the pot back up and keep it simmering on low for about 5 more minutes.

Viola! Now all you’ve got to do is dish this baby up!

Mmmmmmm, even though I think this can get better, it still looks damn good!

Yep, definitely looks edible to me, even with everything it’s missing, lol!

Credit where it’s do, this recipe is from the America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. It’s currently my kitchen bible.

Here’s your printable:

Shrimp Jambalaya

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

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Ingredients

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 8 oz Andouille sausage, sliced ¼” thick
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 1 rib celery, chopped fine
• 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped fine
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1½ cups long grain white rice (uncooked)
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp minced fresh thyme (or 1/8 tsp dried)
• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained with ¼ cup juice reserved
• 1 (8 oz) bottle clam juice (if you don’t have, substitute more chicken broth)
• 1½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 lb extra large shrimp, peeled and de-veined
• 2 tbsp minced fresh parsley

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a large dutch oven over med-high heat until shimmering. Add the sausage and cook until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Transfer the sausage to a papertowel lined plate, leaving the fat in the pot.
3. Add the onion, celery and bell pepper to the fat in the pot and return to medium heat. Cook, scraping up any browned bits, until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds.
5. Stir in the rice, salt and thyme and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes, ¼ cup reserved tomato juice, clam juice, chicken broth and browned sausage. Bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7. Scatter the shrimp over the rice (don’t mix it in) and continue to cook, covered, until the rice is tender and the shrimp have cooked through, about 5 minutes longer. Stir in the parsley before serving.