Jambalaya

The last week or so has been quite busy…with weeds. I started last week by pruning back every rose bush on the property, which is a considerable number. Upon completion of that project I moved on to the weeds. First, there was the lower half of the garden. This part of the garden has all of the plants sown from seeds, and they are all still very small. My job was to clear away all of the weeds while leaving the tiny vegetables to flourish. I managed to clear all of the ‘herbs’ (the French don’t have a word for weeds – they consider all plants worthy. Some are just misplaced) without destroying the veggies and then moved on to oiling the terrace with Linseed oil. It smells great and was actually quite easy to apply with a roller. Too bad it was over so soon, because then it was back to – you guessed it –weeding! It’s amazing how many weeds pop up everywhere when you don’t use any pesticides. Across the front of the terrace there are rose bushes and a flowering plant that is native to the region (and whose name I do not know). Me, my hoe, my gloves and the mower tackled them with passion and soon had carved them out from the savage field of grass and weeds that encompasses the acre or two off the terrace.

At Chateau la Sabine, Benard and Catherine like to have their WWOOFers cook an American dish during their stay. We had previously discussed what I could make. At first, I had a hard time figuring out what I could cook that wasn’t French. And then it hit me – Jambalaya. Long ago, while my friend John was still in town, I had found a great recipe for Jambalaya that came from Brett Favre’s Steakhouse in Green Bay. I guess Brett couldn’t resist adding in a bit of his Mississippi culture. Speaking of Brett…is he a Viking yet? Anyway, I wrote the recipe in the WWOOFer book they keep of all of the meals that have been cooked and proceeded to make a grocery list. I found out that what we call Andouille sausage doesn’t exist in France. It’s also really hard to explain Marinara sauce. But in the end, close approximations were found, and I started to prep on Sunday, the day of the meal. A key ingredient is shrimp. Chateau la Sabine is about 30 minutes from the Mediterranean Sea, so shrimp are plentiful. They’re also fresh – heads, shells, etc. I started to clean them and my hosts looked at me very strangely. They didn’t understand why I thought it necessary to de-vein the little critters. I figured that I would continue to do so in order to make it an American dish. Their incredulous looks were priceless. The meal turned out wonderfully, although it was almost too hot for Maëlle. Since the recipe has served me so well all of these years, I thought I’d include it here. It’s had a few modifications from the original, based upon what I’ve found to work best. Make it and pop open a nice bottle of Languedoc rosé and enjoy!

Jambalaya

olive oil
½ lb. andouille sausage, sliced
½ lb. smoked sausage, sliced
large onion, chopped
3 bell peppers (red, yellow, orange), diced
2 cups celery, chopped
4 gloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. lemon pepper
1 tsp. Cajun seasoning
1 tbsp. oregano
1 tsp. white pepper
2 tsp. black pepper
½ cup fresh chopped parsley
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. basil
2 tsp. sugar
½ cup fresh chopped chives
2-3 medium tomatoes, diced
2 cups marinara sauce
½ cup chopped green onion
6 chicken breasts, cubed
2 cups medium shrimp
¼ cup stock
2 cups white rice

In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and sauté the sausages until browned. Add the onion, bell peppers, celery, garlic, bay leaves, salt, cayenne pepper, lemon pepper, Cajun seasoning, oregano, white pepper, black pepper, parsley, thyme, basil, sugar, chives, tomatoes, marinara and green onions; stir and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add chicken and simmer an additional 15 minutes. Add the shrimp and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the chicken stock and rice; cover and simmer an additional 25 minutes or until rice tests done.