Chicken & Andouille Jambalaya

I usually make my Jambalaya all in one pot, cooking the rice into the dish to absorb all the flavors, but this time I tried a new way.  I cooked everything but the rice together in the crock pot for several hours and then served it all over steamed rice at the end.  I wanted a way to cook it ahead, and this worked very well.

You will need:

Olive oil
1 lb. Andouille sausage, sliced in rounds
1 lb. chicken breast, or chicken pieces trimmed and cubed
2 large bell peppers, any color
2 large sweet onions, rough chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 cup chicken or beef stock
1 28 oz can of whole tomatoes, sliced up -  and the juice
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
salt
pepper
couple dashes of hot pepper sauce to taste
2 cups rice, steamed
6 green onions, sliced in rounds for garnish

In a large Dutch oven, heat olive oil on high then reduce heat to medium high and add sausage, searing it on the outside but not cooking it through entirely.  Remove into a clean bowl.  Then put the diced chicken into the Dutch oven and do the same, sear it without cooking it entirely through, remove to a separate clean bowl, not the bowl it was in when it was raw.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the onions and stir, then add the garlic and bell pepper and cook on medium, stirring until they all wilt some, about 5 minutes.  Add the meat back into the pot and stir.  Add the tomatoes and juice and stir.  Add the stock and stir again.  I season everything with a dash of salt and pepper as I go, but now you want to season with salt, pepper, cayenne and hot pepper sauce and stir.

Transfer to a large slow cooker and cook on low for 5-6  hours or high for 3 hours.  You can also cook it on high for an hour, then switch it to low for several hours.

When it's ready, either mix in the steamed rice to make a one dish meal, or serve ladles full over steamed rice.  Garnish with green onions.

Note:  If you prefer to make this dish all in one Dutch oven and be done cooking on the stove because you don't have a slow cooker or you prefer to just make it in an hour, here is what you do to make it the traditional way:

At the step where you would add the meat back into the pot, also add 2 cups of rice and stir and let the rice cook a bit in the mixture, a few minutes.  Then add the tomatoes and the stock, but add two extra cups of stock so that the rice will steam all in one pot.  Continue the rest of the recipe, stir, bring to a slight boil, then reduce the heat to simmer and cover the pot.  Do not keep stirring, do not lift the lid.  Just let it go, on simmer for approximately 45 minutes.  This is how I usually make it, but I want it to be done and ready to eat whenever we want to eat today.

It will be David's first time having this dish.  I haven't made it the entire time we've dated because he seems to think it won't be good.  He doesn't know what he's missing.  Today I'm making it without letting him know what's coming.  I sure hope he likes it.  He loves spicy food and he loves rice dishes, so I think he will.