This recipe is from our New Orleans Kitchen feature.
Like just about everything else on the New Orleans table, jambalaya is a blend of African, Spanish, French and Native American culinary traditions. Creoles added shrimp into the mix, where Cajun folks kept it meaty, often adding rabbit or homemade sausage into the pot.
At the Deelightful Roux School of Cooking in the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, chef Dee Lavigne expects her students to roll up their sleeves and get to work.
Lavigne founded the city’s only Black-owned cooking school taught by a New Orleans native in 2022, offering an informed deep dive into local lore, gastronomy and culture as part of the experience. Her two-and-half-hour classes are hands-on, with students coached as they prepare an appetizer, entrée, and dessert.
“To make the perfect jambalaya, don’t rush the process and throw everything in together,” she said. “Building a fond in the bottom of that pan is where a lot of that flavor comes from.”
Jambalaya
“To make the perfect jambalaya, don’t rush the process and throw everything in together,” she said. “Building a fond in the bottom of that pan is where a lot of that flavor comes from.”
Ingredients
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 lbs smoked andouille sausage – cut into coins, about 1/4 in thick
4 cups medium onions, chopped
2 cups medium green bell pepper, chopped
2 cups medium celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
Meat from one cooked chicken, removed from the bone, chopped or shredded
6 vine ripened tomatoes, chopped
3 cups chicken stock
2 Tbsp Creole seasoning
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
3 bay leaves
3 cups converted, par-boiled Louisiana long grain rice
2 lbs peeled Gulf shrimp (optional)
Salt, to taste
Sliced green onions for garnish
Directions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring frequently, to render the fat from the sausage.
- Add the onions and cook until brown and caramelized, about 10 minutes.
- Add the green pepper and celery and cook until soft, about five minutes.
- Add the garlic and the chicken and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 5 minutes, stirring.
- Stir in the tomatoes and chicken stock. Add the spices, bay leaves and rice.
- Stir to combine thoroughly. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover , reduce heat to low and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to sit, covered, for 5 minutes.
- Fluff with a fork and served garnished with green onions.
Notes
- If using shrimp, push them down into the hot mixture in the pot after cooking for 10 minutes. Cover and continue cooking for an additional 9-10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow the mixture to sit, covered for 5 minutes.
