The Recipe

Here is the recipe for the Jambalaya that I made last night.  I found it “years” ago in a Cooking Light Magazine…I’ve made it enough to now just pour and dump with no measuring to speak of….and it’s so good.

1 tsp olive oil

1 cup chopped onion (I’ve even used the frozen pre-shopped onion and it works fine

1/2 cup chopped celery (I use considerably more because we all seem to like the crunch and flavor celery gives)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 tsp dried basil

1 bay leaf

dash of red pepper flakes

6 oz smoked sausage cut into thin slices (you can use any type, turkey, andouille, it all works)

3 garlic cloves chopped

2 14.5 oz cans of spicy (or not spicy) diced tomatoes

1 2 oz jar of pimentos (I’ve NEVER put this in there)

1/2 cup peeled and deveined shrimp

3 cups long grain cooked rice.

Here’s the easy part……Heat oil over medium high heat.  Add onion all ingredients EXCEPT SHRIMP AND RICE.  Cook 7 minutes or until tender….do not add shrimp and rice until a bout 5 minutes before you are ready to serve.  Cook until shrimp are no longer pink and serve….

discard bay leaf prior to serving….

couple of things that I’ve learned…

1- ya can’t mess this up

2- you can totally guesstimate these measurements….

3- if you think you want to double to freeze or have some for later – I recommend not adding rice to all of it – separate out the portion you want to freeze add rice when you want to eat it…..

4-great potluck dish!  BUT DOES NOT DO well keeping heated for long periods in the crock pot…..the rice gets crazy mushy.