Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

This is a combination of my Mom and Dad's Jambalaya recipe with my friend Gary's quick tips to make it a little easier. It's got all the "Cajun" staples (a roux, the trinity, plus garlic and pepper) It's spicy and makes enough to feed a crowd.

Ingredients:

• 2 C. of chopped onions
• 1 C. of chopped bell pepper
• 1 C. of chopped celery
• 6 cloves of mined garlic
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 2 lbs of smoked sausage cut into semi circles
• 1 can of Rotel
• 1 large can of crushed tomatoes
• 6 C. chicken stock
• ½ C. of Louisiana Hot Sauce
• 1 T. of salt
• 1 C flour
• 1 C vegetable oil
• 5 C. parboiled rice

Directions:

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper, then dust with flour
2. In cast iron pot, brown chicken in ½ cup of veggie oil, about 4 minutes per side
3. Remove chicken and let rest
4. Add other ½ cup of oil, and make roux with oil and flour over medium high heat until the color of dark peanut butter
5. Add onions, bell peppers, and celery and cook until soft, about 10 minutes
6. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute
7. Add Rotel and crushed tomatoes, cook for 5 minutes and then transfer to a gumbo pot
8. Add chicken stock, sausage, salt, pepper, and hot sauce
9. Bring to a boil and cook for 45 minutes
10. While cooking cut chicken into 1 inch chunks
11. Add chicken and cook for 15 minutes
12. Add rice and cook for 15 minutes on low heat (cookbook has 5 minutes, that's a typo)
13. Serve hot!

Tips and Tricks:

•         Making your own chicken stock for this recipe is cheaper and tastes better. Follow my link to find out how I make mine.  
•         If you don’t have a cast iron pot you can make a roux in a heavy bottomed pot instead.  The trick is to stir constantly.  You can NOT multi-task during this step.  This is where the base of flavor for your gumbo comes.  Be diligent, it takes about 20 minutes to make a roux the color you need.
•         I use Bryan Cajun Smoke Sausage. 
•         The ½ C. of hot sauce might have you scared.  Don’t be!  The sausage, chicken, and rice all absorb the hot sauce and give this jambalaya a great flavor.  It is spicy, but not tongue numbing.
•         This freezes well.