Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya

Authentic Cajun Jambalaya Recipe – Hearty One Pot Meal

Nov 8, 2009
Maria Blanco

Authentic Cajun Shrimp & Sausage Jambalaya Recipe - Cajun Chef Ryan

Jambalaya is a traditional Cajun dish that makes a one pot meal. Rich and flavorful, easy to make; this authentic jambalaya uses fresh ingredients and healthy brown rice.

There are many misconceptions about what is authentic in Cajun foods, especially when it comes to dishes like jambalaya.

What is Jambalaya?

Prairie Cajuns typically use fresh pork as the sole protein addition and it is seasoned and cooked without tomatoes.

Along the bayous a little farther to the south and southeast, jambalayas may be made with seafood or a combination of seafood and smoked sausage and these often will have a tomato paste base; which gives it a good body and fairly substitutes for the role of a roux.

How to Cook Jambalaya

In any case, a jambalaya is always prepared by cooking the raw rice in the pot on the stove-top along with its sauce, proteins and seasonings – all at once. There is no other way to achieve the proper flavor balance and consistency.

Any baked rice dish is not a jambalaya. Any dish that adds cooked rice to a meat and/or seafood sauce is not a jambalaya. Any dish which is served atop a bed of rice and any recipe calling for condensed soup is most certainly is not a jambalaya.

Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya Recipe

What follows is an authentically Cajun shrimp and sausage jambalaya recipe just like the old folks used to make it, before the days of excessively milled polished white rice. Simple, hearty, flavorful – real comfort food – down-home, Cajun style.

Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter
2 large celery ribs, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
1½ cups green bell pepper, chopped – Note: The important thing about the “trinity” of celery, onion and bell pepper is not exact measurements. Rather, it is that the amounts of each should be nearly equal to one another. It is the balance of flavor that counts.
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 can tomato paste
1 pound Cajun style smoked sausage, sliced ½” thick
1 pound fresh raw shrimp, cleaned and deveined
2 cups raw brown rice – Lundberg Organic short grain brown rice is excellent
4 cups water
1 tablespoon Cajun or Creole seasoning – Tony Chachere’s is a good choice
½ teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup parsley, chopped – or 2 tablespoons, dried
2 green onions, finely chopped

Instructions:

In a large, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or a Paella pan (with lid), melt butter over medium heat.
Add the trinity of celery, onion and bell pepper and sauté until the onion begins to become transparent and the bell pepper has softened a little.
Add the garlic and sauté for a minute more, making sure the garlic doesn’t cook too rapidly and burn.
Stir in the can of tomato paste; stirring very well to combine.
Lower heat slightly and continue to sauté for another minute or so. It is okay, and even desirable, for the tomato paste to brown slightly, but take care because it can go from browning to burning quite rapidly.
Add the sausage and shrimp, continuing to cook and stir only until the shrimp starts to develop a little bit of pink color on its edges.
Immediately add the rice, water, Cajun seasoning, black pepper and parsley.
Stir well once more to combine all the ingredients, making sure that the rice is completely submerged in the sauce.
Bring the pot up to a high simmer, cover and reduce heat to medium low.
Allow jambalaya to cook covered and undisturbed for 45 minutes.
Jambalaya will be done when the rice is tender and the sauce has been mostly absorbed.
If the jambalaya is still quite soupy, stir once by folding the rice up from the bottom and over on itself, cover and continue to cook for 15 more minutes.
Continue checking and stirring every 15 minutes until a moist dressing consistency is achieved.
Add one half of the green onions, folding them in lightly.
Garnish with the remaining green onions and serve.