a simple recipe :: shrimp and sausage jambalaya

One of my favorite things about cooking is stumbling across a recipe I know I will be making over and over again. We are big on pasta in our house, but always seem to have a ton of sauce left over. My husband had the brilliant idea of using the leftover sauce to make jambalaya. The first few times, he made it in his own creative style (throwing things in, never making the exact same recipe twice) and it was delicious every time. But then, on a night when he was going to make it, his work day went awry and he ended up not getting home until much past dinner time. So, because I still really wanted jambalaya, I jumped on allrecipes.com and found a recipe that fit the ingredients I had.

Love. At. First. Bite.

Now I did switch things up a bit — the recipe I chose called for chicken and andouille sausage. I had regular Johnsonville Italian sausage and a bag of tail-off cooked shrimp that I really wanted to use. But other than that I pretty much followed the recipe verbatim and it was delicious. So delicious that I have made it twice since (one of the times I made it with a seafood medley I got at Costco, which was comprised of shrimp, scallops, mussels and calamari. So good!). It is a bit spicy so if you are planning on making it for a family dinner with little ones, you may want to tone down some of the allotted ingredients (less crushed red pepper, maybe skip the hot sauce). But wow, this recipe is a keeper! You will not be disappointed (and neither will your family)!

Ingredients ::

2 tablespoons peanut oil
Cajun seasoning to taste
1 lb Italian sausage, sliced into rounds
1 bag cooked, tail off shrimp, thawed
1 onion, diced
1 small green bell pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (16 ounce) can crushed Italian tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/4 cups uncooked white rice
2 1/2 cups chicken broth

Cooking directions ::

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of peanut oil in a large pot over medium heat. Season the sausage and chicken pieces with Cajun seasoning. Saute sausage until browned. Remove with slotted spoon, and set aside. Add 1 tablespoon peanut oil, and saute shrimp until lightly browned on all sides. Remove with a slotted spoon, and set aside.
2. In the same pot, saute onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic until tender. Stir in crushed tomatoes, and season with red pepper, black pepper, salt, hot pepper sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir in sausage. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in the rice and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes. Add shrimp and cook for 5 minutes.

Click here for the link to the original recipe!