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quick jambalaya from a box
While we love cooking from scratch, it is time consuming. Sometimes I’m too tired to cook something fancy. Sometimes we’re just too rushed. My mom taught me how to take a prepared box meal and “doctor it up” with fresh ingredients for a more personalized taste.
I love Zatarain’s New Orleans Style box meals because they’re a good base from which to build. The box offers some suggestions for recipe variations, but I also draw on my experience of making Cajun food from scratch and open up my Joy of Cooking
Ingredients:
1 box Zatarain’s Jambalaya Mix
1 package Andouille sausage (about a pound)
2 stalks of celery
1 small onion
1 serrano chile (or any hot pepper)
1 small green bell pepper
1 8oz can tomato sauce
2 tbs vegetable oil
2 cups water *
Directions:
Chop all vegetables and slice suasage thinly. Saute vegetables in oil on medium high until onions begin to brown. Add sausage and cook for a few minutes. Add water and tomato sauce, bring to a boil. Add rice and spice packet from the box. Stir to mix, return to boil. Cover and cook for 25 minutes.
* I always feel that packaged rice meals call for too much water. I don’t like my rice that soupy, so I eliminate some of the water called for on the box.
You can add 1 pound of chicken or shrimp instead of or in addition to the sausage. The sausage adds a nice smokey, spicy flavor, though. Andouille can be hard to find, but you can substitute with chorizo or any good smoked sausage. I have been able to find both traditional pork andouille and the lower fat chicken or turkey andouille for the health conscious. I usually keep an eye out for andouille when I’m at the store and freeze it to save until I need a quick meal, it thaws pretty quickly in the microwave.
If you don’t like too much spice, eliminate the hot chile.
Collard greens or a green salad make a good side dish and round out the meal.
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