Last week I received very sad news. Kathleen, a friend with whom I have been travelling a lot has passed away. the first time we met was on a hiking vacation in La Gomera. We had a great group, and have been travelling together a lot in the following years. Therefore, this Jambalaya La Gomera is a remembrance to Kathleen.
On one the hiking days we went terribly wrong and a transit walk turned into a long and adventurous hike. Deep in the dark we arrived at our destination in Valle Gran Rey. We were all very hungry, and after putting away our luggage we all ran into the single open restaurant, minutes before closing time. The kitchen was already preparing to go home. We were very hungry and took no time to decide. The twelve of us all took Jambalaya, much to the happiness of the kitchen team.
Jambalaya is an easy instant pot recipe, based on rice, chicken, shrimps or sausages, tomatoes and spices. It has its origins in the American state of Louisiana, where colonists made a variant of paella, using locally available ingredients. There are as many variants of Jambalaya as there are cooks. So don't be afraid to experiment with the ingredients. Another traditional ingredient for this recipe is andouille, which is a French smoked sausage. I decided not to use it, because for an island I want more see on my plate.
So, this Jambalaya La Gomera is not typically for La Gomera, but it takes me back to a beautiful island and a beautiful group of people with which had a hiking Holiday.
Jambalaya La Gomera
Ingredients
- 250 gram rice
- 400 gram chicken breast cut into pieces
- 500 gram large shrimps unpealed
- 600 ml chicken broth
- 3 bell peppers red
- 5 tomatoes medium sized
- 1 can tomato cubes 400 ml
- 2 ribs celery
- 1 onion white
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 piri piri
- 3 bay leaves
- pepper
- salt
- parsley for garnishing
- spring onion for garnishing
- 3 twigs thymian leaves only the leaves, not the twigs
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a pan and bake the chicken breast cubes for 5-7 minutes, until brown. Put them aside.
- Meanwhile cut the vegetables into pieces: bell pepper, tomatoes, celery, onion, garlic and piri piri
- Heat again some olive oil in the same pan and bake the onion, garlic and piri piri for a few minutes until tender.
- Add the remaining vegetables: bell pepper, celery, tomatoes. Fry during a few more minutes.
- Add the chicken broth, canned tomato cubes and rice and bring to cook.
- Also add the spices: bay leaves, thymian leaves, pepper, salt. Let everything simmer for 20 minutes.
- Add the chicken and the large shrimps. Let them warm up in the jambalaya for 5-10 minutes.
- Serve immediately and garnish with parsley and/or spring onions.
Notes
Because of the memories and the taste I make this Jambalaya regularly. I even thought I already published the recipe in the beginning years of my Dutch blog "Gerechtenweb". But the only creole recipe I could find back was my delicious creole stew. So we caught up on that.
in Memoriam
Kathleen
If you speak Dutch, you can find the Dutch version of this recipe on gerechtenweb.blog.
blainerestaurantreport
Sounds pretty good! I’m from New Orleans, Louisiana, where jambalaya is a staple.