Jambalaya Recipe to Help Celebrate Mardi Gras!

In celebration of Mardi Gras, I thought I would share one of my favorite dishes - Jambalaya! And because my husband's from New Mexico and we like a little more heat, this recipe includes a Hatch green chile twist.

"Laissez les bons temps rouler!" means "let the good times roll" and is a popular French saying during Mardi Gras (and we will add to make sure to eat a lot of good food)! We hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do.

Sam's Spicy Jambalaya (with a New Mexican twist)

Ingredients:
1 TBS vegetable oil
1 pound chicken breasts (boneless/skinless); cut into bite size chunks
1 package andouille sausage (the spicier the better in our opinion); cut into bite size chunks
1 onion; diced
1 green bell pepper; diced
1 rib of celery; diced
1 1/2 tsps of your favorite Cajun seasoning (Tony Chachere's is a good option)
1 can diced tomatoes; drained
1 cup long-gram white rice
1 can (15.5 oz) of low-sodium chicken broth
1 can (4.5 oz) of chopped green chiles ** If you can get fresh New Mexican Hatch Green Chiles, use these! 4.5 oz is a little more than 1/2 cup. If not, a can is a substitute. **

Let's get cookin':

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
2. Add the chicken and sausage and saute until the chicken is no longer pink.
3. With a slotted spoon remove the chicken and sausage and place in a bowl and set aside.
4. Add the onion, green pepper, and celery to the skillet and cook for 5 minutes.
5. Then stir in the Cajun seasoning, diced tomatoes, and rice.
6. Then add the chicken broth and stir.
7. Bring the mixture to a simmer, cover the pan, and reduce heat to low. 
8. Continue letting it simmer for 20 minutes (most of the liquid should be absorbed).
9. Stir the chicken and sausage back into the mixture and include all the wonderful juices from the bowl. 
10. Stir in the green chiles.
11. Cook, uncovered, for about 5 more minutes until the rice is tender.
12. ENJOY!

If you have a favorite Mardi Gras recipe for us to try and feature, please comment or shoot us an email. We love to eat!

 The finished product - so good! 

Note: our recipe is for chicken and andouille sausage, but you can also add shrimp if you can get good seafood.

This is what you are looking for if you cannot get your hands on fresh, New Mexican Hatch green chile. They have mild, medium, and hot so you can choose your heat.