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.

Braised Pork Roast with Apples & Cranberries

Today I coated a two pound pork roast in sage, salt and pepper and then seared it to a nice caramel dark brown in a very hot skillet with a few tablespoons of canola oil..about ten minutes. I then removed it to a crock pot heated to high. I added a sprig of rosemary to top off the roast. Then I deglaced my pan with about 3/4 c. dry white wine, 1/2 c. OJ and 1 c. chicken stock. I added a sprinkling of cracked black pepper as well. Just as the mixture started to come to a boil, as I made sure to scrape all the tasty bits off the bottom of the pan (this is where the flavor comes from), I added about 1/2 c. of brown sugar and brought the mixture to a full boil to thicken slightly, mixing the ingredients well.

I poured the contents of the pan over the roast. Then I added a couple of handfuls of dried cranberries to the pot, along the sides of the roast. It's in the crock pot now (this will cook on high for four hours or on low for 8), and when SP gets here, I'll peel, core and slice apples slightly bigger than usual and arrange them in the crockpot for the last hour, or until they are tender.

When the entire dish is done, I will remove it to a platter, reserving the liquid and arranging the fruit along the sides of the sliced roast. In a large saucepan, I'll make a bit of a roux, with a tablespoon of butter and flour each, and mix them until they are starting to turn color. Then i will add the contents of the crockpot to create a tasty gravy.

While all of that is finishing up, I'll make some mashed potatoes and a salad to serve with dinner. We'll drink the leftover wine with our meal. This should be good. I was inspired by a recipe I saw online last week, but couldn't find when I wanted to make this. I read a couple of other recipes and think I get the gist.

You could braise this and add other dried fruits or veggies or a combination of both. Braising works very well for tougher cuts of meat, and it creates layers of flavor. Try it with chicken, beef roast, lamb...whatever you like.

Go Steelers!

SP loved it...he said it is one of the best meals I've made for him. He requested that I make it again. It was pretty good. You can taste the fruity flavors in the meat and it's extremely tender and juicy.

Slow Cooker Olive Chicken

Yesterday morning I put three chicken breasts into the crock pot with a bay leaf, a jar of Spanish stuffed olives, juice and all, a drizzle of olive oil and some cracked pepper. I set it on low the entire time I was at work and when I returned I had the most tender, tasty chicken and olives, complete with a sauce to ladle over the top of my mashed potatoes.

It's that easy! I can eat for several days and don't have to cook all week now.

However, I will note that this recipe is better with a whole chicken. I haven't uploaded the picture yet...but will do so. I got this recipe from my uncle when I was about 10.

My nice slant on it, when I cook it in a sautee pan is to add a deglace of vodka to create a dirty martini chicken dish that is devine with potatoes or rice. I'll also post that sometime. It's prettier as well.