Dirty Jambalaya
I may be creating a huge controversy here mixing the ideas of Dirty Rice and Jambalaya (sort of), but that is what the fridge provided tonight. I had a package of Cajun chicken sausage, an onion, some mini bell peppers...and it went from there. I didn't have a lot of the ingredients for jambalaya or dirty rice, so you could call this a hatchet job, but it is really tasty and very filling.
- 1 pkg Cajun style Andouille sausage, sliced
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups rice (uncooked)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced or chopped fine
- 6 mini bell peppers or 1 whole red bell pepper, diced
- 1 tomato, diced or 7 grape tomatoes, quartered
- 14 oz can of beef broth (or I use Better Than Bouillon Beef Base...LOVE IT!)
- 14 oz can of beef broth (or I use Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base...LOVE IT MORE!)
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons creole seasoning (or make your own with what you have)
- 1/2 teaspoon dry sage
- 3 bay leaves
- 3/4 cup parsley, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
If you are using other meats with fat, cook them first (reserve 3 tablespoons of the fat and forego the butter). In this case, the sausage is already smoked, so I tossed it in at the end. Instead, I started with a medium sauce pan, melted the butter on medium heat, and added the chopped onion and bell pepper. If you have celery, chop that and toss it in too! Sprinkle a couple good pinches of kosher or sea salt over the veggies along with black pepper - don't be shy with the pepper. Let that cook for about 5-7 minutes till the peppers and onions become soft and start to brown a bit.
Add rice and garlic to veggie mixture, coat with butter, and let cook till rice starts to brown. Add the Worcestershire, beef and chicken broths, creole seasoning, sprinkling of cayenne if you want more kick, sage, bay leaves, and sliced sausage. Mix, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is tender and the broths have been absorbed. Add parsley and diced tomatoes, stir well, pull out the bay leaves, remove from heat, and prepare to eat.
I totally plan on eating this for breakfast and for someone who rarely eats rice, that means it was that good.
