Jambalaya

This story is about research and improvisation, and sisters.

I arrived in Atlanta on Marti Gras. I came to visit my youngest sister, who is pregnant with her second child. So I, the Super Aunt (dah-dah-da-dah!), offered to make dinner that night.

"How about Jambalaya?" asked my sister.

"Sure!" I replied. I'm a firm believer that pregnant women should have any reasonable request fulfilled.

When we got into the kitchen, I turned to my sister and said,

"I have a confession to make...

"I've never made Jambalaya."

"Well," she replied, "let's pull out the cookbooks."

If Jane Austen had written a novel about sisters such as us, she would have titled it Pride and Pragmatism.

My sister has only a handful of cookbooks, but they are well chosen. We consulted The Joy of Cooking, The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, and Better Homes and Gardens. While no one recipe appealed to us, we got the general idea and improvised. Here's what we came up with.

Jambalaya for Marti Gras 2009 with Alli, et al.

Ingredients:

3 (or so) tbsp bacon drippings

1 young chicken, about 4-5 pounds

1 cup water

1 pound andouille sausage links, sliced

1 medium onion, chopped

8 cloves garlic, chopped

1 orange bell pepper, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

4-5 cups chicken broth or stock

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

4 oz tomato paste

4 cups cooked brown basmati rice

several sprigs fresh thyme from Avalyn's garden (neighbor)

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper

cayenne pepper

Quarter the bird, and season liberally with salt, pepper and cayenne.

Heat a large dutch oven on the stove. Add bacon drippings; when melted, stir to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken (including neck and back) skin side down and cook until well browned. Flip quarters and continue to cook about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup water to deglaze delicious brown bits, cover and cook until chicken is just done. If there's not enough room in the pan, cook chicken in batches. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.

Add sausage and onions to the pot and cook in pan juices until onions are tender--about 5 minutes. Add garlic, bell pepper and celery, seasoning with salt and pepper as you go. Continue to cook about 5 minutes.

In the meantime, peel off the skin and pick the chicken. Meat should be in bite sized pieces. (Reserve the bones for stock.)

Add chicken stock. Cover and bring to a boil. Add tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir well to combine.

Add rice, chicken meat, bay leaves, and thyme. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until liquid reduces and Jambalaya thickens.

Serve it up when it smells so good, you can't stand to wait any longer.

By the time we dished it up, a couple of neighbors had shown up at the back door. We pulled up some extra chairs and called it a party. Laissez les bons temps rouler!