Spicy Three Meat Jambalaya

Transport yourself to Louisiana for some spicy yummy goodness with this three meat Creole jambalaya. Great taste in an easy weeknight cook that is packed full of meats, veggies and rice. And did I say spicy...

This is my first and probably last "sponsored post"  which means I got something to do it. I got about $15 worth of stuff free and then spent about $30 of my money doing the task... You may say not smart but it looked like fun. So this is what you get out of this... a very nice spicy three meat jambalaya with Brussels sprouts (yep sprouts). But it really came out nice.

Click to check out the Go4 Gourmet contest sponsored by McCormick spices.

I felt like I was on a slow motion version of Chopped. I had a box of ingredients from Martha's Circle (my main sponsor) and McCormick Gourmet with Spanish chorizo, paprika and chicken stock. I needed to add Brussels sprouts. Yep, Brussels sprouts. But I had a few days.

SPECIAL NOTE: if you are a Brussels sprouts fan, just go on to my carrot cookie post
so you don't have to listen to my whining and have a good day. (or go the the recipe since it is good.)

What to do with sprouts? I'm not a cabbage person. Not at all. I once walked out of a major convection dinner when they served corned beef and cabbage (it was St. Patrick Day but I was not the only one...). This is just cruel and unusual punishment. I'm just a hobbyist food blogger and have never done anything to hurt these people have I... But time to "man up" and put on my big blogger panties. But what to do with the baby cabbages AKA Brussels sprouts?

First try. Just make the jambalaya that I had planned and put the spouts in. It was a test cooking anyways so treat it like another veggie. Not good... not good at all. The sulfur smell... not good. But the chorizo was less spicy than expected and I got raw shell on shrimp by mistake. Lots of problems. But it was really mainly the sprouts since the other things are easy to fix.

The next cooking would be for real. I had another package of chorizo delivered from Amazon (identical to the original) but no other time to cook before they wanted pictures. But...what to do with sprouts? My wife told me to open the windows and turn on the fan.

My next plan was to saute slices of sprouts in butter, garlic and spices to make some little flavor bombs. Butter is great and I can spice the heck out of anything, right...nope, still the sulfur.

Next up, bacon. Everything tastes good with bacon right. Better but no cigar as they say. At least tolerable. The bacon was still bacon and tasted good but the spouts not so much. I could not have them taking down my great tasty jambalaya.

I appealed to friends and family. The award goes to Christine, my sons girl friend (not Christine, the beauty blogger). She is a veggie person and informed me that the center of the sprout was the responsible offender. Her idea, just use the green leafs. A wonderful idea. I had of course done my Googling. I had watch the Alton Brown show on Brussels sprouts (thanks Greg). I knew not to overcook and now armed with this knowledge, I had a plan and would replace the celery that is frequently found in jambalaya with the leaves but not over cook them. Cut up the sprouts, keep the green leaves and add them late in the cooking. Yep and they even tasted nice and added some texture.

Rating:

A good solid 4.

Notes: I know this is a "Gourmet" cooking contest and I used RoTel and Minute Rice. But did they read the title of the blog. The part that says "everyday cooking" and they did send it... right. The RoTel was requested by my wife. It needed the taste and spice (always listen to your wife). The Minute Rice was me. If I were to use normal rice, I would need to cook it for 20 minutes or so. That would complicate the meat cooking by over cooking. By using Minute Rice, I used the spicing of the cooking to infuse the rice. Just what I wanted.

Now you may not want to use the Brussels sprouts then just skip it. Add a stalk of chopped celery with the onion. Sub out the Spanish Chorizo for smoked sausage or kielbasa and you have the recipe below

Spice note. This is a 6/10 on the "heat-o-meter" and the same on the garlic-o-meter.

Blogging note: The above package was provided free. However since the recipe required a test cooking, the replacement chorizo cost me $14. So I did get the paprika and 8 oz of chicken stock free but then used them twice plus chicken and shrimp and...  Well that didn't work out very well did it. As they say "will blog for cookies" (more like crumbs) but it looked like fun and it was...

The spices. OK I wasn't very brand loyal but I making a Cajan spice mix. You would normally add onion and garlic powder but I'm using real onion and garlic in the recipe.

The main ingredients.

Start by processing the Brussels sprouts. Rinse well then cut into quarters. Cut off the bottom and toss out any browning or yellowing leaves. I used one pound of sprouts and only kept the green leaves and trimmed off any thick white areas on the leaves.

Trim and cut one skinless boneless chicken breast. I cut into two cutlets, then cut length ways then lastly cut 1/4 inch cross grain slices.

Mix the spices. 1 tablespoon paprika, 2 t course salt and 1 t each of pepper, oregano, thyme and Cayenne pepper.

Heat 2 tsp oil over medium high heat in a large pan. I used a dutch oven.  Add 1 T spice mixture to the chicken and coat well. Also coat the shrimp with 2 t of the spice mixture.

When the oil is hot, add the chicken and saute for 5 minutes.

While the chicken is sauteing, prep one medium onion and one green pepper by chopping. Cut 8 oz o f sausage into 1/4 in medallions.

After the chicken has cooked 5 minutes, add the onion, pepper and sausage. Also add 1 stack of chopped celery here if you want a more normal jambalaya.

This will cook for 4 minutes then add 4 cloves of crushed garlic and cook 1 minute more.

While the chicken mixture is cooking, in a fry pan over medium high heat melt 1 T butter. When hot, add the shrimp and 2 cloves of crushed garlic. Add the leaves of the Brussels sprouts if using. Saute for 2 minutes.

When the chicken done, add the shrimp mixture.

Add 1 - 10 1/2 oz can of RoTel and 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth. Increase heat to high and bring to boil.

When boiling, add 2 cups of Minute Rice.

Mix the rice in well. Remove from heat and cover for 5 minutes.

Stir well and serve.

Spicy Three Meat Jambalaya
By Dan Mikesell
October 16 2013

Transport yourself to Louisiana for some spicy yummy goodness with this three meat Creole jambalaya. Great taste in an easy weeknight cook that is packed full of meats, veggies and rice. And did I say spicy...

Ingredients

• 1 Skinless boneless chicken breast
• 8 ozs sausage of choice
• 8 ozs cooked shrimp
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 2 tsp course salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 medium onion
• 1 green pepper
• green leaves of 16 ozs Brussels sprouts (optional)
• 1 stalk celery (if not using the sprouts)
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 - 10 1/2 oz can RoTel
• 12 ozs Chicken broth or stock
• 2 Cups Minute Rice

Instructions

1. Start by processing the Brussels sprouts. Rinse well then cut into quarters. Cut off the bottom and toss out any browning or yellowing leaves. I used one pound of sprouts and only kept the green leaves and trimmed off any thick white areas on the leaves.
2. Trim and cut one skinless boneless chicken breast. I cut into two cutlets, then cut length ways then lastly cut 1/4 inch cross grain slices.
3. Mix the spices. 1 tablespoon paprika, 2 t course salt and 1 t each of pepper, oregano, thyme and Cayenne pepper.
4. Heat 2 tsp oil over medium high heat in a large pan. I used a dutch oven. Add 1 T spice mixture to the chicken and coat well. Also coat the shrimp with 2 t of the spice mixture.
5. When the oil is hot, add the chicken and saute for 5 minutes.
6. While the chicken is sauteing, prep one medium onion and one green pepper by chopping. Cut 8 oz o f sausage into 1/4 in medallions.
7. After the chicken has cooked 5 minutes, add the onion, pepper and sausage. Also add 1 stack of chopped celery here if you want a more normal jambalaya.
8. This will cook for 4 minutes then add 4 cloves of crushed garlic and cook 1 minute more.
9. While the chicken mixture is cooking, in a fry pan over medium high heat melt 1 T butter. When hot, add the shrimp and 2 cloves of crushed garlic. Add the leaves of the Brussels sprouts if using. Saute for 2 minutes.
10. When the chicken done, add the shrimp mixture.
11. Add 1 - 10 1/2 oz can of RoTel and 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth. Increase heat to high and bring to boil.
12. When boiling, add 2 cups of Minute Rice. Mix the rice in well. Remove from heat and cover for 5 minutes.
13. Stir well and serve.

Yield: 8 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes but half due to the sprouts
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes

Updated
October 27 2013