Who Wants Jambalaya?”
The word “Jambalaya” always reminds me of “Seinfeld”, when Newman, the mail carrier who is also Jerry’s neighbor/nemesis almost sings the word as he dances away from “The Soup Nazi” with his prize – here is the clip as he orders his soup:
While I love that scene, and will share how I also had that same Jambalaya, I got my inspiration to make Jambalaya myself from one of New Orleans’ greatest restaurants!
Commander’s Palace has been a New Orleans institution since 1890, and in the 1970’s the Brennan family took over and kept all of its delicious culinary traditions alive!
I own the “Commanders Palace New Orleans Cookbook” by Ella and Dick Brennan, and it was time to tackle this classic dish!
As the cookbook notes, this is a cajun version of a spanish Paella….but my friend Jodie told me it’s more accurate to called it creole style…good point – here are the ingredients:
1/4 cup clarified butter
1 coarsely chopped onion
1 coarsely chopped bell pepper
3 coarsely chopped celery stalks
5 minced cloves of garlic
1 pound shrimp
1 pound boneless skinless chicken, cut into cubes
3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp paprika
28 ounce can stewed tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
3 tsp Louisiana Red Hot sauce
1 bunch green onions coarsely chopped
1/2 lb andouille or kielbasa sausage slice 1/2″ thick
1/2 lb ham and crawfish tails optional
1 cup rice
Let’s Get Cooking!
First thing to do is hope up your bell pepper, celery, onion and garlic.
Heat the butter in an uncovered heavy-bottom pot or kettle. Add all of the vegetables and garlic and saute for 5 minutes.
While stirring, also cut up your chicken and sausage, and take any shells off of your shrimp as well…
Add your shrimp, chicken, bay leaves and thyme and continue to cook it over medium heat for about 10-15 minutes…the chicken should have color on the outside and the shrimp will be pink.
Add the paprika and then the tomatoes, plus the chicken stock, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce and mix it all together well.
Finally, add the sausage and any other meat or seafood being used and when the mixtures comes to a boil, add salt to taste.
My “Rice Audible!”
According to the original recipe, this is where you’d mix the rice in and then cook the entire mixture over low heat for 30 minutes….I didn’t add the rice but will explain why in a moment…first, let’s listen to this bubble away on the stove:
Here’s a clip that explains why I didn’t add rice to the dish itself – which would have absorbed much of the sauce and made a thicker mixture when finished….
As I said in the video, I used some leftover green rice with roasted corn that was already prepared, and as the clip showed I also used some cauliflower rice for Alex as well.
So instead of cooking it in the dish itself, I just added them into our individual bowls at the end, covered it with the jambalaya and the dish was ready to serve!
The cookbook calls this “pot cooking” at its best – and they are right!
First, let me say again that adding the cup of raw rice to the dish when called for would have made this drier with less broth – and I love more broth with mine, so it worked for me!
The recipe also called for green onions, which I didn’t have, and those were to be shaved over the dish at the end, giving it some color…oh well, next time!
This is a delicious meal to make – all in one pot, full of creole flavor, and very filling. I will be making this many more times in the future!
This wasn’t the first time I’ve made a dish like this:
Remember My “Tale Of Two Paellas?”
Week #15 of the “52 In 22 cooking challenge” had me making a simple Spanish Paella that turned out to be anything but!
Click here to see why my “52 In 22 Cooking Challenge” forced me to make one dish twice!
Back to “Seinfeld”: the memorable character of “The Soup Nazi” is based on a real Chef – and I ate there!
This is the original “Soup Kitchen”, where you can buy collectables as well as more than a dozen different kinds of soup each day – including the Jambalaya!
This is the actual Jambalaya I ordered there – click here for my taste test!
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Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Cookbooks, Eat This!, Food, Food Pictures, Food Travel, Recipes, Restaurants, Travel, Wacky Food, World's Wildest Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
One of my favorites John, and I really love the idea of keeping it as a gray/sauce over the rice, and I’ll do that next time I make it. I like a lot of sauce!
Thanks for the Seinfeld memories! You were doing a little sing-song with your jambalaya pronouncement as well…
This looks and sounds really delicious.
I love it!
I have always wanted to try this in an authentic restaurant, but never found anywhere in England that served it. I first heard of it in the lyrics of a song that my dad played when I was young. Best wishes, Pete.
I love the Pete thanks for sharing! The Soup Kitchen recipe is delicious with just the right about of spicy kick and lots of shrimp!
Ooo looks so nice. Glad I just ate
I loved it and plan to buy more from The Soup Kitchen as it’s a ten minute walk away!
Sounds a bit dangerous