My great-grandmother passed on two things to our family: her love of Cajun food and her recipe for crab jambalaya. After my wife and I got married, we moved away from the Gulf Coast. Crabmeat was too expensive, so we found a recipe for a smoked sausage and beef jambalaya. After some years of tweaking, I’m finally satisfied I’ve come up with a jambalaya that would make my great-grandmother proud.
Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef
| 1 lb. andouille sausage, sliced into bite-sized pieces |
| 1 c. c. chopped yellow onion |
| ½ c. chopped green onion |
| 1 c. chopped bell pepper |
| 4 garlic cloves, minced |
| 2 15-oz. cans of fire-roasted diced tomatoes with garlic |
| 2 tsp. Cajun seasoning |
| Salt and pepper, to taste |
| 1 ¼ c. long-grain rice |
| 2 ½ beef broth |
| 1 bay leaf |
Preparation
1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown ground beef, 7 to 10 minutes; drain and set aside.
2. In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, brown sausage, about 7 minutes; drain and set aside.
3. Add ground beef, yellow onion, green onion, bell pepper and garlic to the Dutch oven; cook over medium heat until vegetables are soft.
4. Add tomatoes, sausage, Cajun seasoning and salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add rice, beef broth and bay leaf to the meat-and-vegetable mixture; cover and cook over low heat for 25 minutes or until rice is tender.
4. For a less spicy option, substitute regular smoked sausage and diced stewed tomatoes and cut back on or eliminate Cajun seasoning.
Serves 8.
Nutritional Information: Calories: 330; Fat: 10g; Cholesterol: 65mg; Sodium: 950mg; Total Carbohydrates: 34g; Dietary Fiber: 3g; Sugars: 6g; Protein: 26g.
