I just got the new Penzeys spice catalog in the mail a few weeks back, and inside the catalog was a recipe for jambalaya. And since it’s still cold and snowing outside, why not put a little something hot in my stomach.

So starting with the recipe in the Penzeys catalog, along with a bunch of Emeril’s jambalaya recipes off of the Food Network website. Here is the recipe that I came up with for jambalaya:

• 2 TB Olive Oil
• 14 oz andouille sausage, cut into 1/4″ to 1/2″ rounds (basically one whole grocery store package)
• 2 small onions, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 tsp. Garlic powder
• 1 tsp. Bobby Flay 16-spice Poultry Rub (see side notes)
• 1 tsp. Thyme, dried
• 1/2 tsp Red pepper flakes
• 2 cups un-cooked long grain white rice
• 4 cups of chicken stock
• 1 – 14.5 oz can of fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

Into a Dutch oven add the olive oil and sausage, cooking the sausage into browned. Then add in the onions and bell pepper and cook until both have soften, while also scraping up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Once the onions have become translucent add the garlic, spice mix, thyme, red pepper flakes and rice, cooking for about a minute to wake up the spices. Finally add all the remaining ingredients and simmer until the rice has absorbed all the liquid and has cooked through, which will be about 20-30 mins.

Side notes:

• The bobby flay spice mix gave the jambalaya a weird, almost sweet cinnamon smell/taste. So this is one spice blend that I wouldn’t be using again to make jambalaya.
• I think that I’m going to make my own andouille for the next batch of jambalaya. Since the andouille that I got at the grocery was very ho hum for taste.
• Use low heat (On an electric range, #5 while cooking the sausage, onion and green pepper; #8 to bring to boil; #1 to simmer mixture.)
• I actually stopped by Penzeys this week to get some spices to make a batch of chili for my workplace chili cook-off this week. So I was able to get my free jar of their new and improved cajun spice blend. So I’ll be swapping out the Bobby Flay spice mix for this stuff the next time that I make jambalaya.