I think everyone knows by now that I miss the South, I’m sick of cowboys, and I’m very ready to get out of this one horse town. Well guess what… my wish has been granted! In just a few weeks, we’ll be moving to Mississippi to continue pilot training with the Navy. Hooray! I never thought I’d be so happy to move to Mississippi.
In celebration of the move, I decided I needed to bring the South to Enid… in the form of Jambalaya!
Once we move, we’ll be within 2-3 hours of New Orleans; Pensacola; Biloxi, MS; and Mobile, AL. We’re pretty excited about all the weekend adventures in our future!
I’d made this Jambalaya for Nick once before, long before the blog. It was great, so I’m surprised I haven’t made it again until now! It’s from a “healthy” cookbook, so it uses lots of veggies, and ham instead of the typical greasier sausage. But the flavors are so loud and delicious, you’d never even guess it was healthy!
Jambalaya with Shrimp and Ham
(adapted from The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 small green bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 small yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 6 oz smoked ham, diced
- 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 cup long-grain white or brown rice
- 1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- Hot sauce, for serving
Heat oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, peppers and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes.
Add in everything else except shrimp, rice and hot sauce. Bring to a boil .
Stir in rice, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the rice is done and most of the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. (Note: the original recipe said 20 minutes, but it was also for white rice. I used brown rice, and it ended up taking about 45 minutes. Follow the time suggestion on your box of rice.)
Add the shrimp. and cook, covered, until the shrimp is cooked through, about 5 minutes.
Serve with hot sauce on the side.
Just as good as we remembered it!
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