Chicken and Andouille Jambalaya

I learned something about myself recently. It’s that I haven’t really done a good job of telling my friends (or AJC food writer John Kessler, for that matter) how to make jambalaya. I described my method for one friend on three scribbled steno pad pages, never going into any specifics about the spices involved because I honestly don’t season the dish the same way each time I make it. I described my method for another friend two different ways and, because she has a mind like a steel trap, she actually called me out about the transgression. I posted one recipe on Food Buzz that I thought described the step-by-step well, only to remove it once I realized it did not. And I emailed Kessler after he wrote a story about recovering from burnt jambalaya, urging him to try it my way, only realizing after I hit send that I wasn't quite clear about what my way actually was.

Though I don't advocate being a slave to recipes, I am now advocating at least being able to give someone a reliable recipe from which they can work. This is my new New Year's Resolution.

So Saturday night I sat down with my ingredients, my 12-inch cast iron skillet and a notepad and endeavored to capture a faithful rendering of the chicken and andouille jambalaya I create on a pretty regular basis in my home. It’s a recipe I learned from watching my mom (who just seems to make the dish as if it’s an involuntary function, like breathing), begging a championship jambalaya cook for his recipe and tinkering a bit on my own. What I present to you below is something with a good and zesty base flavor that’s smoky, but not overly spicy. If you’re big on heat, all you need are a few dashes of Tabasco to take this dish from fais-do-do to zydeco.

Before I proceed, here are a few notes on what will make this a memorable jambalaya:

1. A well-flavored andouille sausage, preferably something like Savoie’s (which I’ve found in my local supermarket) which is made in Louisiana. The sausage is smoky and fairly spicy; because of that you shouldn’t have to do much to season the dish. If you can’t find a good Louisiana andouille, I suppose you could use a brand like Aidell’s, which is made in California. Just don’t tell me about it if you do. If you can’t find andouille at all, a smoked sausage will do.


But here's a pile of what you really want, the good stuff:

2. You also want well-browned (that does not mean burned) long-grain rice. The browned rice adds a depth of nutty flavor to this dish that really makes it great. Expect to spend about 15 minutes stirring and stirring your rice until it looks about like this:

Not to be hyper-regional, but I’d call that color café au lait. No?

3. You could sprinkle any garden variety Cajun seasoning into your jambalaya, but I find that they all have different balances of spices. You could also mix your own Cajun seasoning, for a little more control over the taste. Here’s the mix I used for the following recipe: 1 tsp. salt, 1 pinch cayenne, 1 pinch white pepper, 1 tsp. black pepper, 2 tsp. parsley, 1-2 tsp. oregano, 1 pinch thyme, 1/8 tsp smoked paprika, 1/8 tsp onion salt. I find it's near perfect, when you consider the flavors that are already coming at you from the well-toasted rice and nicely-flavored sausage.

So with that in mind, here’s your list of ingredients:
1 diced medium onion
1 package of diced andouille
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast cutlets, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cups rice
3 cups water
1 ½ - 2 TBS garlic
Cajun seasoning mix (either as directed above or to your own taste)

Method:
1. Coat the bottom of a 12-inch cast iron skillet with a thin layer of olive oil and brown the diced andouille. When the andouille is browned, remove it from the skillet, put it on a towel-lined plate and set it aside.
2. Brown the boneless skinless chicken breasts in the same skillet, remove them from the skillet and set them aside on a different plate.
3. Pour the rice and onion into the leftover oil remaining in the skillet and cook until light- or medium-brown in hue. This will take about 15 minutes of your effort. Be sure to stir frequently so that the rice does not stick. When the rice is about 13 minutes along in this toasting process, add the diced garlic to the mixture. Don’t add it too soon, or else the garlic will get overcooked and taste bitter. Me, I have a no bitterness policy in 2008.
4. When the rice is well-browned, add the andouille and chicken to it, along with any leftover juices there may be and mix it all together. Then add the water and spices, and stir until well incorporated.
5. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and cover the skillet for about ten minutes.
6. After ten minutes, uncover the jambalaya and stir it well, bringing the cooked rice to the top and pushing the less-cooked rice closer to the heat . Cover the skillet again for five to seven minutes.
7. When five to seven minutes have elapsed, uncover the jambalaya and stir it again, taking extra care to gently scrape up anything that is stuck to the skillet. Serve it with cold beer (I say Abita, of course) and a simple green salad with a tangy Creole Mustard vinaigrette (recipe follows).

Creole Mustard Vinaigrette
Ingredients:
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
½ cup coarse brown grainy mustard, or Creole mustard if you can find it
salt and pepper to taste
2/3 cup of vegetable oil

Method:
Whisk ingredients together and serve over romaine lettuce.

Here are the jambalaya and the salad plated:

Chicken Bonne Femme

A couple of weeks ago, I saw Rachael Ray yammering on about Scallops Bonne Femme, an earthy and rich dish that's served family-style in a hefty cast-iron skillet. Though I often think her recipes have too many things going on in them, I have to say this one caught my eye and my tastebuds. Yet, because I live in a house of people who turn their nose up at oysters, scallops and pretty much anything else that's fun (I can't help it because I grew up on the Gulf Coast and they didn't), I wondered if there was a way to vary that dish with a more, shall we say, inoffensive ingredient like chicken for the same effect.

Fortunately for me, my mother gave me the Galatoire's Cookbook for Christmas this past year. It was a selfish act, no doubt. Why? She marked the time-honored eatery's recipe for her favorite dish, crabmeat au gratin, and then made a point of noting that she marked that dish in the note she scribbled to me in the front of the book (Do you think the woman wants me to make her some crabmeat au gratin? Hmm...hard to say). But I bring this up because the cookbook has a great recipe for Chicken Bonne Femme that I thought I'd share with you. It's not only a perfect family-style meal that serves four, but a hearty-yet-elegant meal you can dish out for less than $15.

You read me right: In the spirit of Rachael Ray I am starting the new culinary sensation: "Feast for Under Fifteen." Amazing what sort of epiphanies you can have during that afternoon cup of French Roast.

At any rate, I've altered the recipe somewhat because after taking a few test runs of the cookbook, I've discovered that the authors either assumed the home chef was cooking with an industrial strength oven, or cooking with a team of sous chefs at their disposal, or meth-ed out on some sort of crack rock that would enable them to pull this stuff together faster than the speed of light.

Me, I believe we can't have that sort of madness in this space, especially not for something that amounts to comfort food. I believe we need to take our time and enjoy what we cook.

But before we do, here's a shopping list:

1/2 pound of sliced bacon

1 fryer chicken cut into eight pieces (Publix, for example, sells these already cut up for about $7 usually)

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Vegetable oil, for frying

1/2 stick of salted butter

2 large onions, sliced

1 tablespoon of minced garlic

2 large Idaho potatoes, sliced thinly (The original recipe says to peel them, but I like the depth of flavor the skin brings to the dish)

1/4 cup of chopped parsley to garnish



And here's what you'll do with all that:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Rinse the chicken pieces and dry them thoroughly before seasoning them well with salt and pepper. Put the chicken in a lightly oiled baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Be sure you turn the pieces halfway during baking.

3. While the chicken is baking, fry the bacon until crisp then put it on a paper towel-lined plate.

4. Then, pour vegetable oil into a frying pan and deep fry the potatoes until they are golden brown. Remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon, place them on paper towels to drain and season them well with salt and pepper.

5. In another pan, melt the butter, then add the onions and saute them until they are caramelized. Deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup of water to moisten the onions and lift any bits of browned goodness off the bottom of the pan. Crumble the bacon into the onions and add the garlic too. Toss to combine the ingredients, then remove from the heat.

6. When the chicken is done, pour the onion mixture on top of it and then add the potatoes too (I don't think you don't have to use all the potatoes in this step; just use enough to make it look pretty. Because people have different views on how much starch they should eat, you can have the additional potatoes in a different serving dish at the end so that people can help themselves). Return the baking dish to the oven and cook together for an additional 3-5 minutes.



What you get for your efforts: Mmmmmm. Something that's perfect for a cold night like tonight.