This is what we're all thinking about, right?I've been thinking about making jambalaya for a looong, long time ever since I read a book on Creole cooking a friend loaned to me but it was only today that I decided that it was finally time to make it. I found this blog called I Made That! which is brimming with recipes I'm dying (ie. drowning in my own drool) to try. So I've bookmarked a bunch of things to try soon but the jambalaya could not wait. I called Michael straight away and told him that we were definitely having it for dinner tonight.
I'm not going to copy the recipe over because it would involve translating from ounces to grams and crap like that so if you want to read it follow the link. I followed it pretty much exactly with a few necessary changes: I didn't get pork sausages (because payday isn't 'til tomorrow and I'm a little broke), I couldn't find Andouille sausages (because Epping is a cultural wasteland) so I used chorizo instead, I upped the chicken thighs to five and I used one of those three-packs of capsicums with the red, yellow and green for extra colour.
Look how pretty!Also, I'd just like to say "FOR SHAME, EPPING SAFEWAY!" for already having closed their deli at 6:30pm. What is this, the middle ages? I had to buy pre-packaged Don chorizo.
So, a word to the wise, don't make this if you're in a rush. It's very easy to put together but chopping all the ingredients took an eternity.
The great thing about this recipe though, is that it smells and looks delicious from the very, very beginning. I could've eaten it at the bacon and chorizo stage, I could've eaten it immediately after adding the capsicum and I was just about ready to chow down on a pan of raw rice towards the end.
Comin' along nicely.On an impulse Michael went ran out to rent The Princess and The Frog (which was actually really good) to go with dinner and when he came home he was almost floored by the amazing smells that'd filled the whole house.
It was amazingly delicious, so meaty and spicy and paprika-y. I wish I could eat it forever! I've never had jambalaya before so I don't have anything to compare it to but if this is what New Orleans is like then "I want to go to there!"
"New Or-le-uns! Home of pirates, drunks and whores..."Michael's already gone to bed so he can't give his final word but I think the way he was too busy inhaling it to tell me what he thought speaks for itself.
Seriously, make this. You will not regret it.
