Jambolicious!

At our farmer's market over the weekend we picked up a pack of chorizo sausages from our local vendor. So far all of their products have been really good, but I hadn't had the chorizo yet. I wasn't sure what I would make and just tossed them in the freezer for the time being. As I planned out what to make for the next few days I had two things in mind. Use the chorizo and make something I could have leftovers for lunch. As the weather continued to cool down, I was craving something spicy, warm and filling. Jambalaya! Now, traditionally, jambalaya used Andouille sausage, not chorizo. There are also a million ways to direct your jambalaya from there. I wasn't concerned. Chorizo was gonna work for me! Oh, and forgive me Cajun spirits. My trinity didn't include celery--I forgot to get some! I subbed in some ground celery seed, crossed myself and said a prayer instead.

Jambalaya

I sort of made my jambalaya up as I went along. I started by cooking the sausages. I choose to keep them in their casing and cook them whole. I thought about removing the casing and crumbling the meat up, but I wanted bigger chunks of meat. I'm pleased with the direction I went. Cooking the sausages first renders out some of their fat, which I then used to cook the rest of the ingredients.

After remove the sausages from the pot, I sauted chunks of diced chicken. When that was cooked through, I removed it and moved on to the onions and garlic. I had to cross myself again here, as I didn't follow the true trinity! The peppers. I'll tell you more in a minute. While the onions were cooking, I moved on to spices. I used about a TB of cajun seasoning and 1 tsp of ground celery seed, 1/4 tsp of chipotle chile and chimayo chile for some heat. I also added a TB of Beau Monde seasoning. I dropped in a full bay leaf as well. I returned the chicken and sausages to the pot and poured in a 14 oz can of petite diced tomatoes and 4 cups of chicken stock. Carefully stir in 1 cup of uncooked rice. Bring to a simmer then reduce the heat to barely a bubble. At this point I added the peppers-diced green and red. I do this so the peppers don't cook too far and become mushy. I like them to still have some texture and be "just soft." In the past, if I saute them with the onions and celery (when I have it), they almost become too mushy for me.

Cook slowly until the rice is just cooked through. If you want to use shrimp or other seafood in your jambalaya, now is the time to add it. The residual heat will cook the tender morsels, without over cooking them.

Turn the heat off. I let my jambalaya sit for a few minutes before serving. The rice continues to absorb liquid and flavor.

Serve hot, in large bowls with large spoons! Enjoy.

Cajun Chicken Pasta

For dinner the other night, I revisited a recipe I tried a few months ago and loved. Rich, decadent, highly seasoned, filling and totally satisfying. Cajun Chicken Pasta. Still meets all of those criteria. But I noticed one thing different this time. My "Cajun" seasoning was different and it gave a completely different taste. Previously, I used Penzey's Cajun Seasoning and this time I used a McCormick's Gourmet Collection Cajun blend. Both were fine, but now that I can compare, I'm certainly going with Penzey's. I'm not really surprised, I've had an ongoing love affair with Penzey's for many years. Afterall, I work not to support myself, but to support my spice habit. But in a pinch, I figured one can't be all that different from another. I felt there was a big different. This is based soley on my impression and not studying or research, etc, but I felt the McCormick's blend was very heavy on black pepper. All good! Love black pepper, but there wasn't a balance of other flavors in the blend. The black pepper stepped into the party and said "Hey, I'm black pepper, I'm dominant and I'm going to force you beneath me." Whereas the Penzey's blend just had the feeling of a bunch of friends hanging at a party, having a good time, everyone's working the room and no one is playing alpha dog. Again, I don't have a thing against black pepper, I love it and use lots of it, but with McCormicks, I think it was a touch heavy handed.

Anyway. Long story short. This is a fun, fast meal that I would recommend to anyone who wants a little zippy dinner. Now, if you're on a diet bandwagon, I wouldn't have any problems removing the butter from the recipe, or the cream. If I took the cream out, I might add in a tablespoon of tomato paste to add a little something more to the brothy sauce.

Satisfying Pasta

Let's just jump into last night's dinner shall we.

Cajun Chicken Pasta
One pound of chicken, diced up, seasoned with cajun seasoning, salt & pepper and cooked through. Remove to a plate.

In the same pan, cook some chopped red onion, red pepper, green pepper and garlic until almost tender. You want a little bite left in the peppers. Remove to the plate with the chicken.

In the same pan, deglaze with broth & wine if you want, simmer, add some cream, simmer to reduce. Season with salt/pepper, cayenne pepper if you want some extra heat and a touch more cajun seasoning.

Schlep all the ingredients in the cream sauce with pasta that is just about al dente. Simmer for an extra minute or two to finish cooking the pasta and letting the sauce mingle and marry with the other ingredients.

Toss with fresh parsley and serve up.

This dinner came from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Great blog. My kind of food! Really a satisfying dinner. All the slurpiness of a chain restaurant's type of pasta dinner, but with the supreme wholesomeness of a home cooked meal. It was fast, easy and adaptable! I skipped the wine, unlike me, but I had my reasons. I used penne, use pasta you prefer. I used canned tomatoes instead of fresh--canned are better than the out of season white tomatoes my store has now. And I added a little shot of Worchestshire sauce just prior to adding the pasta. All in all, very tasty! This will come out again!

Cajun Chicken Pasta
3 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Cut Into Cubes
3 tsp Cajun Spice Mix, More To Taste
1 pound pasta
2 TB Olive Oil
2 TB Butter
1 whole Green Bell Pepper, Seeded And Sliced
1 whole Red Bell Pepper, Seeded And Sliced
½ whole Large Red Onion, Sliced
3 cloves Garlic, Minced
4 whole Roma Tomatoes, Diced
2 cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth
½ cups White Wine
1 cup Heavy Cream
Cayenne Pepper To Taste
Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
Salt To Taste
Chopped Fresh Parsley, To Taste

Preparation Instructions

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain when pasta is still al dente; do not overcook!

Sprinkle 1 1/2 teaspoons Cajun spice over chicken pieces. Toss around to coat. Heat 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a heavy skillet over high heat. Add half the chicken in a single layer; do not stir. Allow chicken to brown on one side, about 1 minute. Flip to the other side and cook an additional minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a clean plate.

Repeat with remaining chicken. Remove chicken, leaving pan on high heat.

Add remaining olive oil and butter. When heated, add peppers, onions, and garlic. Sprinkle on remaining Cajun spice, and add salt if needed. Cook over very high heat for 1 minute, stirring gently and trying to get the vegetables as dark/black as possible. Add tomatoes and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Remove all vegetables from the pan.

With the pan over high heat, pour in the wine and chicken broth. Cook on high for 3 to 5 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Reduce heat to medium-low and pour in cream, stirring/whisking constantly. Cook sauce over medium-low heat for a few minutes, until cream starts to thicken the mixture. Taste and add freshly ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, and/or salt to taste. Sauce should be spicy!

Finally, add chicken and vegetables to sauce, making sure to include all the juices that have drained onto the plate. Stir and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until mixture is bubbly and hot. Add drained fettuccine and toss to combine.

Top with chopped fresh parsley and chow down!

Quick Cooking

Tonight's dinner: Cajun spiced tilapia
with sauted corn and boiled potatoes

I took tilapia filets and drizzled them with a touch of olive oil, salt, pepper and cajun seasoning.


The tilapia was placed under the broiler for 7 minutes.


All served together for a lovely, filling dinner. Fast, easy and good flavor.


These are my filets. They are frozen and from Giant. There were two filets in the pack, each individually sealed for easy use.

Saveur Shrimp

A few weeks ago I received the March issue of Saveur in the mail. The cover story was all about shrimp. I didn't read it. But I was shocked and excited to see a recipe and full page photo of Barbecued Shrimp...a dish that J-lo ordered when we went to dinner for his birthday at Acadiana and he loved and we all were completely impressed by. The dish was supposedly one of the top 25 dishes served in the United States in something like 2005...it was really good.

Well, here's a recipe that looked and sounded almost exactly like the Acadiana dish. So, we had to try it and tonight was the night.

But first...note to self...when you read a recipe and plan to make it...check to make sure you have everything...and enough of it! I had everything, but not enough of two ingredients...it's ok...but I would have liked to try it by following the recipe completely.


Barbecue Shrimp
serves 4

16 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined (tails on if you want) (1-1 1/2 lbs)
2 TB Creole/cajun seasoning
1/4 cup canola oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 TB finely chopped rosemary
1/2 cup amber beer
6 TB hot sauce
6 TB worcestershire suace
5 TB fresh lemon juice
12 TB butter
Crusty Bread!

All ingredients ready! It goes fast.

1) Heat a large skillet over medium heat until hot. Meanwhile, put the shrimp and cajun seasoning into a bowl; toss to coat. Set aside.

Shrimp chilling.

2) Add oil and garlic to skillet and cook until golden, about 1 minute. Add rosemary and cook for 2-3 seconds. Add shrimp and cook, flipping once, until it starts to turn pink, about 30 seconds.

Shrimp, garlic and rosemary.

3) Transfer shrimp to a large plate; set aside. Add beer, hot sauce, worcestershire and lemon juice in skillet; stir well. Cook, stirring, until thickened, 7-8 minutes.

Transferred shrimp.

4) Remove skillet from heat; whisk butter a few pieces at a time (sauce will start to thicken). Return shrimp to skillet; toss to coat. Return skillet to medium heat and cook until shrimp are cooked through, 2-3 minutes. Transfer shrimp and sauce to plates. Serve with chunks of crusty bread for dipping!

Shrimp and sauce, plus bread for dipping. Served with boiled potatoes with butter and parsley.

This was great! As I only tried a bite of shrimp at Acadiana, I think this was pretty close. Jason thinks it was pretty close as well, not completely, but close!

So what didn't I have enough of...I only had about 1 TB of chopped rosemary...the pack I bought just didn't have much in it. I also only had 2 TB of worcestershire sauce. Other adjustments I made, I went with 2/3rds cup of beer and only 8 TB of butter, instead of 12 TB! Really great as I made it...next time I'm going to try to get more rosemary and worcestershire. Oh, and I only did 4 TB of hot sauce.

Another "Cook-What-You-Have" Night!

This was fun. I'm going to call it Cajun Chicken Chili with Couscous...Alliteration!

I had some chicken in the freezer, so I pulled that out to thaw. I almost always have canned tomatoes. An onion and garlic. Why not use up the remaining bag of frozen corn. Wine? SURE!!! Seasoning...I recieved a free bottle of Cajun Seasoning from one of my larger orders from Penzey's (link is to the cajun seasoning, so you can see what it contains). Why not try it out. Also added some extra cumin, cinnamon, coriander, oregano and parsley.


I sliced the chicken (2 boneless/skinless breasts) thinly and tossed it in 2 heaping TB of the cajun seasoning and a big pinch of salt. Set that aside. Slice the onions and throw in a medium dutch oven with a TB or two of olive oil until soft and translucent. Add a few cloves of chopped garlic. Scoop out of the pot and set aside. Add the chicken (in batches) and saute until nearly cooked through. Remove to a bowl. When done with the chicken deglaze your pan with about a cup of dry white wine. Add the chicken and onions back into the pan. Add the corn and one can of diced tomatoes and their juice. Add the extra seasoning (cumin, cinnamon, coriander, oregano and parsley...small handfuls of each...if you have them. Lower heat to a simmer, cover and let go for a few minutes.

Meanwhile make a bit of Israeli Couscous...about 1/2 a cup of uncooked couscous will give you enough for two big servings and enough for a second bowl each.

Serve your Cajun Chicken Chili with a scoop of couscous on top. Mmmmm! Ladle a bit of extra broth into the bowl.

This was a tasty treat..."It tastes like more!" So we each had more. I'd love to have more things in this dish, but it was what I had. Some peppers. Some chorizo or andouille sausage. Maybe I'd chop or shred the chicken. But overall, I really enjoyed it. Oh, and maybe some broth or extra wine, to allow it all to mix with the couscous...which worked really well with this!