#hellishcuisine

Originally a recipe made from scraps, today jambalaya is a staple dish in every Creole family! This version stems from my mother, dear reader; I urge you to treat it with respect, otherwise I need to turn up at your house °W° (this is a joke). Since I live in Central Europe, some traditional ingredients are not accessible to me. Furthermore, I have to deal with certain allergies.. feel free to change back the indicated substitutes and make sure to let me see your results. I am dying to!

Ingredients (for ~6 servings): - Seasoning mix (see here) - 6 medium chorizos (substitute for Anduille sausage) - cut into ~1/4`` pieces - 3 big chicken breasts - cut into roughly the same size as the sausage - 1 medium capsicum (green) - roughly chopped - 3 sticks of celery - chopped to the same size - 1 big yellow onion - chopped to the same size - 1 habanero (yellow) - finely chopped - Cloves of garlic to taste - finely chopped or crushed - 2-3 tb Tomato paste - 2 cans of crushed tomatoes - Hot sauce to taste - 2-3 bay leaves - 5 cloves - Piment to taste - ~20oz vegetable or chicken stock - Rice

What to do when First, you want to sweat and caramelize your chorizo. Do not overcrowd the pan! In this case, I roasted two batches over medium heat for ~5min on each side. To quote my favorite online chef "Love it, leave it alone!"

Leave the grease in the pan and transfer the sausage into your pot; you will use the grease to brown your chicken! I personally put in some pieces of chorizo in with the chicken and cover everything with a generous helping of seasoning mix... Do not overcrowd the pan! Depending on your stove, this takes ~5min on each side. Do not worry if the center of your chicken is still raw-ish, we will boil it out later.

Again, transfer the meat into your pot. Now starts the fun part - we're caramelizing the holy trinity (onion, capsicum, celery). You need some neutral cooking oil and medium high heat. Let it sit and bleed. My celery was frozen, so do not worry if yours does not bleed as much! Make sure to taste check and adjust your flavour profile if you need to. The trinity can be a little bitter (which I personally prefer!); a bit of honey can balance it out. Once the trinity is softened and some of the excess moisture has evaporated, add the garlic and the habanero and let it become fragrant. Once everything is incorporated well, transfer it to the pot.

I personally like frying off my tomatoe paste, but that is optional! Add it to the pot together with the crushed tomatoes and the stock; add rice (depending on what kind of rice you chose, calculate it to balance with the stock). Add the bay leaves, cloves and piment and let it simmer over low heat for at least 30mins.