Jambalaya

I see that I haven't posted since July! Ack! As much as I'd like to say I'm going to start posting regularly from here on out, I've said that before, and I've come to realize that I'm going to need to accept that, for me, posting about freezer meals is irregular by nature.  After all, the whole reason I started to do freezer meals was because I didn't have the time and energy to make a decent meal for my family every day.  It stands to reason that I would also struggle to find the time and energy to post blog entries on a regular basis.

When life gets really busy and tiring, like it did for the past couple months, I don't add a lot to my freezer or experiment.  I depend on the meals I've already made and frozen to get me through.  This means I don't have new stuff to write. Plus as I've mentioned before, the development of freezer meal recipes can be long.  Sometimes it's a year or more between my first attempt and the final recipe.

So while I can't promise regular posting.  Hopefully these recipes can still be helpful to you as they come.  It is certainly helpful to me to have a freezer full of delicious food when life gets particularly busy.  Please be patient and keep coming back!  I have several new recipes to post.  Plus I'm going to do a Thanksgiving series!



On to the Jambalaya! Jambalaya was one of our favorite meals and in regular rotation before we had kids.  As life got busier it gradually fell out of favor to the point where it had been years since we had it.  It's not that it's particularly time consuming or difficult.  It's not.  But there is just enough chopping and gradual adding of ingredients that it became too much to do on a weeknight while trying handle little kids as well.

Jambalaya was not initially on my radar as a freezer meal, mainly because it is a rice heavy dish.  My (limited) experience with freezing rice dishes has not been good so far.  Recently I was having a craving for Jambalaya and considering actually going to the effort of making a meal that would only be for one night when I realized that all the stuff that makes Jambalaya too much work to have regularly happens before the rice goes in.  Once the rice goes in it is a simple matter of letting everything simmer until the rice is cooked.

I further realized that I could do everything up to the point of adding the rice, stop and freeze the Jambalaya in that state.  Then having Jambalaya would be a simple matter of defrosting, adding rice and broth and letting it cook until done, which is super simple to do in the evening when tired and taking care of little kids.  The process works great and Jambalaya has made a return to our regular meal rotation.  Welcome back Jambalaya!

Adapted from: AllRecipes
Difficulty: Moderate
Category: Simple Side
Recipe Column: DO

Serves 6

2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp Cajun seasoning
1 lb andouille sausage, sliced into rounds
1 lb chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized chunks
1 onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
16 oz can crushed tomatoes
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp hot sauce
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp file powder (optional)

1. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large, heavy stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add the sausage along with half the Cajun seasoning.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sausage it brown.  Remove the sausage from the pan.
2. Heat the remaining 1 tbsp of oil in the same pan.  Add the chicken and the rest of the Cajun seasoning.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is brown.  Remove the chicken from the pan.
3. Add the onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and starting to brown.
4. Add the tomatoes, red pepper flakes, black pepper, salt, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce and file powder.  Stir the chicken and sausage back in along with any juices from the bowl they were in.
5. Simmer the mixture for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat.

To freeze:

Cool the mixture safely. Divide into the desired number of bags or containers.  Freeze.

To serve:

1 1/4 cups uncooked white rice

2 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

Adjust the above amounts for how you have divided your Jambalaya base.  For example, I make 3 batches of Jambalaya base and divide it into 6 dinners for my family.  That means each dinner is 1/2 the original recipe.  Accordingly, I use 3/4 cups rice and 1 1/2 cups liquid.   The amount does not need to directly proportional to the original recipe so long as it is close and the volume of liquid is double the volume of rice.

Or if you want to avoid all the math stuff, just divide your base into the number of batches you made. 

Thaw the mixture overnight in the fridge.  Place it in a sauce pan along with rice and broth.  Bring to a low boil.  Cover and turn the heat to low.  Let cook until the rice is cooked through. Serve with a vegetable or salad.