Goodbye Joe, me gotta go, me-oh my-oh.

...Me gotta go pole the pirogue down the bayou.

Sorry, but I just can't make this dish without having this classic Hank Williams song come to mind. I don't even know what a pirogue (pronounced "Pee-rogue") is; but I know that of all the dishes in all the world, Jambalaya is one of my absolute favorites.

Unfortunately most times I have it, it's a mass of mushy rice with some hot pepper and an occasional shrimp or piece of sausage that comes up. Well not tonight. Tonight I went with my own version of this dish. The trouble is, I'm in Southern California, which is not known for a steady supply of crawfish and artisan andouille sausages.

A speedy conversation in my broken Spanish and the butcher's broken English yielded me some very nice Longaniza sausage in it's natural casing. I'm normally dubious about buying sausages that are very red in color, mostly because I don't like eating a giant wad of sodium nitrites. But this got its color from a mass of chiles and spices, not chemicals, so I went for it.

For the seasonings, I wanted to have something that would bring a certain "tex-mex" flair, but that would not destroy the core qualities of this classic Louisiana fare.
With the change in sausage, I kept it basic. Switching out the cayenne for chile de arbol, which would lower the peppery burn slightly, and one seeded and diced jalapeno, with the membrane removed. That would give a nice fruitiness in addition to the heat.
Beyond that, some black pepper, a bit of salt, bay leaf, and coriander rounded out the spice brigade. Of course, it wouldn't be Jambalaya without the "Trinity", a mixture of green bell pepper, onion, and celery. And just for an added bit of pungeoncy, I had to toss in a clove or three of stinky roses (garlic).

Wana know why shrimp are so expensive? because they are a pain in the ass to prepare! All the legs, and shells and "the vein", makes for a kitchen battle of epic proportions to the unprepared. Now I'll still do it for big important events, but when it's just me? No way, Jose. EZ-peel shrimp are the way to go for me. Already deveined, with the shells left intact. Thank you to the seafood mongers for saving me an hour of time.

What I think I like most about Jambalaya is that it is a literal "melting pot". You have a few core ingredients, but after that, you can toss in anything you want and the dish will still come out nice, and without much of a change (if any) in cooking time!

So for me, sausage, chicken thighs, and shrimp came together with the other aromatics , chicken stock and some Basmati rice. With about 30 minutes of slow-simmering in my blue-enameled dutch oven, the mixture was ready.

Now it's a common myth that "cajun" cuisine is synonymous blackened everything and mouth-searingly hot peppers. But I think that "spicy" is often associated with the heat of capsicum and the other flavors get left out of the equation when that term is used. This dish was certainly very spicy. The heat was definately there, and at just the right level for me. That level being the point where I wonder if I'm going to start crying, but am able to avoid doing so, barely. But what I really loved about it was that even though the dish was "hot", every bit of it was readily identifiable. I could feel the tingle of black pepper, followed by the slow-burn of the arbol, and then caught the subdued fruitiness of the jalapeno. Yet for all its heat, the dish was not overpowered for me because all the other seasonings came through, thanks to the soft sweetness imparted by the trinity, the laurel qualities of the bay, and earthiness of coriander. And carrying all that flavor in every single grain was the long-grain basmati rice. Little flavor bombs, each one exploding with the flavor of my bayou and painted desert infused bowl of hearty goodness. This is why I love cajun and creole cuisine. It's more than just a set of recipes, it's the art of combining anything you like into a simmered dish of joy that everyone can love.

465 to go