Creole Jambalaya

An Old fashioned jambalaya recipe. I use a local hot sausage for this recipe but if you don't have any handy, any spicy pork sausage will work, I used to use chorizo when I was not in Louisiana, it works pretty good. You can also use any kind of left over meat if you like. I use chicken but have also used pork and it works fine. Use any kind of broth you like, I prefer chicken. Remember that white rice is cool but par boiled rice is a lot more forgiving. The key to a good Jambalaya is LEAVE IT ALONE, once you put the lid on let it cook for at least 30 min before you check on it.

• Ready In: 50 mins
• Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 2  cups rice
• 1  lb  cooked chicken
• 2  slices ham
• 1  lb smoked sausage
• 1⁄2 lb  spicy pork sausage
• 2  onions
• 1  bell pepper
• 2  stalks celery
• 1  jalapeno pepper
• 2  tablespoons butter
• 2  garlic cloves
• 2  sprigs thyme
• 2  sprigs parsley
• 2  bay leaves
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 4  cups broth
• 1  teaspoon chili powder

Directions

1. Chop the left over pork or chicken into small chunks and slice the smoked sausage.
2. Chop the onions, Celery, Bell Pepper, Jalapeno and mince the garlic herbs and ham.
3. Remove the skin from the sausage if it has any.
4. In a heavy bottomed pot with a tight fitting lid, brown the pork sausage braking it up, after the sausage is good and brown remove it with a slotted spoon If you have a lot of rendered fat you can pour it out but leave a couple of table spoons so you can brown your veggies. If you don't have any fat left over use a couple table spoons of butter to brown your veggies,.
5. Brown your onions bell pepper and celery slowly when slightly brown add the garlic, when that browns slightly, add the ham then minced herbs, bay leaf, cloves and chili powder stir till it starts smelling Good.
6. Add the browned sausage, smoked sausage and left over meat and stir till everything is well mixed.
7. Add broth and bring to a boil, as it boils taste the jambalaya to determine how salty and spicy you want to make it. Once your happy with the broth add the rice and let it come to a boil again. Put the lid on it, turn it down to a medium low and LEAVE IT ALONE for at least a half an hour before you go checking it.