Studio Surface Recipe Exchange!

Happy Monday!!  What's a great way to start off a new week?...with a bunch of new recipes, of course!   Michelle over at Studio Surface organized this blogger recipe exchange and I am so excited to be participating!  I love cooking and love trying new things, so this should be fun!

To give a little background, prior to moving to Arizona, my husband and I lived in New Orleans for close to four years.  I cannot even begin to explain how wonderful the food of that city is and how much we miss it.

New Orleans street scene

This time of year as Fall approaches, I crave comfort food.  In NOLA, jambalaya was my comfort food.  Despite the fact that it is about 106 degrees right now, I am going to try to beckon Fall by making one of my go-to cozy, cool weather meals.  We found this recipe for Cajun Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya and it is so worth the effort!...I promise.  [The recipe calls for tasso, which is a spicy smoked ham, used for seasoning. If you can’t find it, you can order it online or use this substitute (courtesy of Commander’s Kitchen – Commander’s Palace, New Orleans – a fantastic cookbook, I would highly recommend): 1 ounce (per every ounce of tasso in recipe) ham cut in strips tossed with 1 part cayenne and 3 parts paprika. (source)]

I cut the recipe in half and it still makes enough for us for several days.  The recipe above gives step by step instructions and I took photos of the process to give a visual:
 

1.  To make things easy, we went ahead and chopped everything that needed to be chopped and gathered all of our seasonings.

2.  First brown the sausage and then add the chicken.

3.  Add the onions and garlic.

4.  Add the tasso, thyme, basil, and black and white pepper.

5.  Add the chicken stock.

6.  Add the rice and then fold in the parsley.

7.  Simmer, covered, for at least 25 minutes.

8.  Ready to be plated!

9. Accessorized and ready to eat!

Confession:  I made it WAY too spicy.  :(  My husband loved it, but my mouth was on fire.  I used the tasso substitution I mentioned above since I have only been able to find tasso in New Orleans, but I could not for the life of me remember how much cayenne pepper I used last time.  I used one teaspoon and I am guessing I would have been fine with about an 1/8 of a teaspoon.  :(  Oh well, lesson learned.  I wrote it down this time, so next time I make it I will not go so crazy.

This recipe is a wee bit of work, but if you like jambalaya or have never tried it, this one is a real treat!...just chill out on the cayenne, unless you like things spicy! 

Be sure to pay a visit to these fine ladies and see what recipes they are sharing:  Michelle from Studio Surface, Ana from Live & Enliven, Estelle from Under a Pink Moon, Bianca from Bink and Boo, Damaris from Kitchen Corners, and Susan from House of Brinson.  ...say hi and check out their blogs if you haven't already!  :)

Have a great week!