crab jambalaya

Jambalaya is normally made with shrimp and andouille sausage, but this recipe swaps out the shrimp for crab (an idea from F&W again). It's easier to make than I expected -- it's not too spicy either, so you can kick it up with extra hot sauce when serving.

Grocery list: 2/3 - 1 pound kielbasa (I've tried both turkey and chicken kielbasa, fresh from the meat counter at WF, where they grind the meat and make the sausage fresh daily), 1/2 pound lump crab meat, 1 onion, 1 red bell pepper, old bay, garlic, jasmine rice, chicken broth, thyme, scallions.

I used my le creuset dutch oven for this, but any big heavy pot will do -- heat a few T of olive oil over med-high heat, and cook the andouille (chop it into bite size pieces) for about 3-4 minutes, remove to a bowl. Don't worry if it's not cooked all the way through yet. Then add the chopped onion, pepper, and celery, cook 2 minutes, add 2-3 chopped garlic cloves, cook 2 more minutes. Put the andouille back in the pot, plus 1 1/4 cups rice and 1 tsp old bay. Cook for about 2 minutes (the rice will start to get translucent). Then add 1 1/2 c chicken broth, 1 1/2 cups water, a whole sprig of thyme, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then cover the pot and turn down to low heat.



Simmer for about 15-20 minutes until the rice has absorbed all the liquid (don't open up the lid to stir too much though). While this is cooking, pick through the crab meat to make sure there aren't any bits of shell. (I learned the hard way the first time I made this.) Also, chop 3-5 scallions or green onions. When the rice is done cooking, stir in the crab meat and the scallions, turn off the heat, cover, and let stand 2-3 minutes for the crab meat to get warm. Remove the thyme sprig before serving.