New Orleans Inspiration

This week, we had the pleasure of seeing New Breed Brass Band in Albany and we had such a good time! But we came away craving New Orleans cuisine! So today, we meandered through a few grocery stores collecting ingredients for Jambalaya.   I always start my Jambalaya with a standard recipe and work from there:

Ingredients:

12 oz. (or so) skinless, boneless chicken (breasts or thighs - your choice. Breasts tend to try out too much for me.)

2 Bell Peppers (we use green and yellow to add more color)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, sliced or diced, whatever your preference

Raw minced garlic - 4 cloves, 6 cloves ... whatever your taste buds desire

Canned tomatoes (14.5 oz - we use a quart jar of our home canned tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

Broth - chicken, beef, vegetable ... whatever you have on hand - I use about 16 oz?

1 Tablespoon dried parsley - or a small bunch of fine cut fresh parsley

1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil (or again - some fine cut fresh basil)

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon hot sauce (your preference!)

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 lb. shrimp, shelled and deveined (do NOT use pre-cooked shrimp - we tried that once and they got very rubbery)

3 cups cooked Rice

Directions:

Cut chicken into 1-inch pieces

Add all ingredients accept for shrimp and rice to your crockpot

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours

Add shrimp during last 15-20 minutes of cooking

Stir in rice when ready to dish up!

  Tonight we used chicken, shrimp and andouille sausage. We didn't put any hot sauce in, expecting the andouille sausage to bring the spice but the sausage we used was hardly spicy and the flavor was lacking. So we mixed in a little Melinda's Red Savina Hot Pepper Sauce and the flavors came right out! That sauce is amazing!  The key to good Jambalaya is definitely in the heat! :-)

 As for Shrimp Remoulade - there are just as many recipes for this as there are for Gumbo and Jambalaya. Everyone likes something a little different. I prefer a horseradish flavor and Brownie seems to agree. Tonight I switched from horseradish mustard to creole mustard and I ended up adding horseradish anyway. So I'll stick with my usual method. Don't mess with what works!

As for wines, we tried a few. The one we liked best was De Martino Estate Organic Savignon Blanc, it seemed to compliment the flavors best. It didn't blow me away paired together though, I'll try something different next time. Brownie said it would be a refreshing wine on a hot summer day, which is saying a lot because he's not a huge fan of white wines.

Our craving is satiated and our taste buds are dancing, no complaints here! Now we just need to put these bottles of wine to good use! :-)