Easy Jambalaya — The Roux That Connects Us All

Christmas at the cottage. Year four. (Or is this year five? Let me count: 2016, 2017, 2018 — year three of the blog means Christmas 2018, which is the third Christmas documented. Yes.) The traditions have layers now, like a Doberge cake: each year adds a layer, and the layers make the whole thing richer, and you can taste every year in every bite.

This year's addition: Rémy made a roux for Mama. At the cottage. In Mama's kitchen. With Mama's spoon. He stood on his step stool and stirred, and Mama stood beside him the way she stood beside me when I was young, and I stood in the doorway and watched, and the three of us — grandmother, father, son — were connected by a spoon and a pot and a technique that's older than the cottage and younger than the bayou and exactly as permanent as love, which is to say: not at all, and completely.

His roux went blonde again. Not dark. Not yet. Mama said, "Blonde is beautiful, bébé. Dark comes with time." And she was talking about the roux, and she was talking about everything. Dark comes with time. Patience. Years. Loss. The color deepens as the life does, and the deepening is the point, and the blonde roux of a seven-year-old boy is perfect, exactly perfect, because it's his, and it's now, and the dark will come later, and later is later, and now is everything.

Christmas gifts: Luc got AirPods (the teenager package). Colette got watercolor paints that cost more than they should and that she deserves more than anything. Rémy got a cookbook — a children's cookbook, with simple recipes and big pictures, and he opened it and sat on the floor and read it cover to cover and didn't look up for an hour. The boy reads cookbooks. Joey's grandson reads cookbooks. The fig tree bears fruit. The roux turns. C'est bon.

After watching Rémy stir that blonde roux with Mama’s spoon, I couldn’t think of a better way to carry that moment forward than to build a whole pot around it — because that’s what roux is for, isn’t it? It’s the foundation, the starting point, the part that takes patience and rewards it. This jambalaya is what I made the next evening with the last of the andouille from the cooler, and it fed seven people and asked for nothing except that you stand at the stove and pay attention, which felt exactly right.

Easy Jambalaya

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 40 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 lb andouille sausage, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 3 green onions, sliced, for garnish

Instructions

1. Build the roux. Heat the vegetable oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and stir continuously for 3–5 minutes until the roux turns a light golden blonde. Don’t rush it — the color tells you everything.
2. Brown the sausage. Add the andouille to the roux and cook for 3–4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the slices pick up some color and release their fat into the pot.
3. Sear the chicken. Add the chicken pieces, season lightly with salt and pepper, and cook for 4–5 minutes until no longer pink on the outside.
4. Sweat the trinity. Add the onion, celery, and bell pepper to the pot. Cook over medium heat for 5–6 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables soften and the onion turns translucent. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
5. Season and add tomatoes. Stir in the Cajun seasoning, smoked paprika, thyme, and cayenne. Add the diced tomatoes with their juices and stir to combine, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
6. Add rice and broth. Pour in the chicken broth and stir in the rice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover tightly and cook for 20–25 minutes, until the rice has absorbed the liquid and is tender. Do not lift the lid early.
7. Rest and fluff. Remove from heat and let sit, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff gently with a fork, taste for seasoning, and adjust salt and cayenne as needed.
8. Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with sliced green onions. Serve hot, with hot sauce on the side.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 480 | Protein: 28g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 52g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 890mg