[title subtitle=”recipe and images: Stacey Little”][/title]
For those of us who celebrate Mardi Gras, we have the advantage of a rather long season this year. While the French term “Mardi Gras” literally translates to “fat Tuesday” and refers to the last day of the season before Lent, many folks celebrate the entire time between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday. The season is filled with parties, fancy balls, parades, and lots of good food. Even though New Orleans is most known for the Mardi Gras celebration, the whole thing actually started in Mobile, Alabama.
As you might imagine, my favorite part of Mardi Gras is the food. We typically don’t limit our intake of Creole and Cajun food to this time of year specifically, but it certainly is more prevalent during the first few months of the year as a result of the celebration. There’s a lot of debate about the differences between Creole and Cajun. Some say Creole is “city” food while Cajun is “country” food. My blogger friend Jay Ducote says all you really need to know is that Creole cuisine uses tomatoes, and proper Cajun food does not. That’s how you tell a Cajun versus Creole gumbo or jambalaya. Based on his thoughts, I present my Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya. It calls for tomatoes, so you can say it’s Creole. It’s a great, one-pot meal that comes together quickly and is filled with great flavor. You can make this as mild or spicy as you like based on the amount of red pepper flakes you add as well as the type of sausage you choose. If you want no spice at all, simply omit the pepper flakes and substitute a mild sausage like kielbasa for the Cajun variety the recipe calls for. Regardless, this is a favorite at our house during Mardi Gras and all year long. Laissez les bons temps rouler!
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Ingredients
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 large bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- dried red pepper flakes
- 1 pound Cajun or andouille smoked sausage, sliced into 3/4 inch rounds
- 1 pound chicken breast meat, cubed
- 1 (28-ounce) can of diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon creole seasoning
- 1 1/2 cups uncooked rice
Method
- Heat oil in a large Dutch oven. Add onion and bell pepper and saute until translucent.
- Add garlic and a pinch of red pepper (or more if you like heat) and saute until garlic is fragrant.
- Add sausage and chicken and cook until chicken is mostly white.
- Add tomatoes with juice, tomato sauce, bay leaves, broth, creole seasoning and uncooked rice. Cover and reduce heat and cook 45 to 55 minutes or until rice is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed.
[infobox bg=”brownlight” color=”black” opacity=”on” subtitle=”is the author and publisher of SouthernBite.com, an award-winning Southern food blog dedicated to sharing his family’s Southern recipes.”]
Stacey Little[/infobox]
