Recipe: Cheater Jambalaya

This recipe came about because my sister and I had a lot of leftover Hot Italian Sausages from dinner on Friday. I also used a boxed rice mix because my sister’s family doesn’t use rice very often, so buying a bag of rice didn’t make sense. And we didn’t feel like buying all the necessary spices. So, this cheater version was born.

My Cheater Jambalaya

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced and divided
• 2 hot Italian sausages, sliced
• 1/2 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and roughly chopped
• 28 oz can of diced tomatoes (I used an Herb & Garlic seasoned can), drained (reserve the liquid)
• 2 1/2 cups of liquid (I used the liquid I drained from the tomatoes and topped it off with water)
• 1 box of Zatarain’s Dirty Rice
• 2 tbsps butter
• 12 raw, peeled 31/40 shrimp
• ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/2 tsp dried parsley

Directions:

1. In a largish saucepan, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions, green pepper, and 2 cloves of garlic. Cook a few minutes, until the vegetables have softened slightly.
2. Pour in the drained tomatoes and cook, allowing the liquid that is still in the tomatoes to evaporate. Once the vegetable mixture starts to look a bit drier, add in the chopped chicken and sliced sausages. Stir to combine.
3. Add the liquid to the pan and allow to come up to a boil before adding in the box of Dirty Rice. Stir to combine, bring back up to a boil, then cover the pan and lower to heat to LOW. Allow the rice to simmer for about 25 minutes.
4. Once the rice is done, remove from heat and prepare your shrimp. In a small saute pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the rest of the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Put the shrimp in the pan and cook until the shrimp is pink. Sprinkle with the parsley and pepper, stirring to coat the shrimp.
5. To serve: Spoon the Jambalaya into bowls, top with the shrimp, and then spoon a bit of the remaining garlic butter over top.