The following post is from Shaina of Food for My Family and Olmanson Photography: Spicy Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya
Winter is dragging on. I have made and served soup to my family more than I care to share. It’s a conscious effort, mostly due to the fact that I like soup. Still, soup for dinner three nights a week becomes a bit repetitive to the masses. They begin to revolt and ask where the rest of their dinner is. Clearly, their mother has lost her mind. I blame the snow. My mind is buried beneath it.
In an attempt to appease the small mouths offering up a dinner that still fits my warm and comforting spoonfuls bit that I apparently require to get through cold winter months but satisfies the “not soup” request of my progeny. Sausage Jambalaya seemed a good place to start.
Rice is a staple in our home. We eat it with roast chicken dinners, serve it under a mound of vegetables, squish it into rice balls and bread, and bake it for a cheesy treat. I usually make extra, and then I use leftover rice to make fried rice or cheesy rice for an easy lunch for the lunchbox. In this case, it’s mixed with soup-like beginnings that turn into a thick rice dish, complete with hot sauce and succulent bites of shrimp and sausage.
| Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya |
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 large bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup celery, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes or 1 cup diced fresh tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 1 1/2 cups uncooked Hinode medium grain white rice
- 2 cups peeled, deveined shrimp
- 1 pound chicken sausage, sliced into 1/2″ slices
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- In a large stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add in the onion, celery, and the bell pepper, and sauté for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are just tender.
- Stir in the garlic, and then add in the tomatoes, Worcestershire, and the hot sauce, stirring to combine. Add in the stock and the rice. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes until the rice is tender but not fully cooked through. Add in the shrimp, sausage, and the spices.
- Continue cooking until the rice is cooked and the sausage and shrimp are fully done, another 10-15 minutes. Serve immediately with extra hot sauce.
You can add extra hot sauce at the end when everyone has their individual bowl so that the rice is mild enough for my two youngest kids and my mother-in-law. You know, those that aren’t quite accustomed to the heat just yet.
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What are your favorite rice dishes?
| Shaina Olmanson is the freelance writer, photographer, and home cook behind Food for My Family. Cooking daily with and for her four kids and husband, Ole, drives her desire to inspire other families to do the same. Shaina is also the author of Desserts in Jars and regularly contributes to various online sites and traditional print magazines. | |
