Jambalaya!

Saturdays are usually the day where I am cooking something new and unusual in the kitchen. Mondays through to Fridays I am usually too busy with work to get creative and I have no energy after a busy working day to potter in the kitchen, make a huge mess and then worry about the cleaning up.

Usually on Sundays I search through the Internet and or my cookbooks and try to find something that I have always wanted to taste or find something that makes my taste buds when reading scream out in delight! I tend to menu plan a week in advance. I do that so that when I do find a recipe I like I can research it and find out as much information about the recipe, its origins and so forth. Yes I over analyse things its one of my most annoying flaws but I cant help who I am. I have an inquisitive nature. I need to know the where’s, hows and whys of things.

Last Sunday I found a recipe for the dish Jambalaya. I have always being curious and interested and I guess have had this curiosity and fascination about New Orleans and especially The French Quarter of New Orleans. This fascination with New Orleans has been with me for as long as I can remember. I have never been to any part of the USA but I know that one day The Husband and I will go and visit and stay and explore New Orleans.

So back to my Jambalaya dish. Like I said I found the recipe last week and was determined to have a go and try and make it. I went out and purchased all the ingredients and spices and spent the morning preparing it all. I made it in my slow cooker and the smells radiating out of my kitchen were seriously out of this world.

Whilst it was cooking I trolled through the Internet trying to find out as much as I could about Jambalaya. I just needed to know more! Where and how it originated and I was amazed that there were 3 varieties of the same dish. The recipe that I had was based on a Creole version of the dish and I found that that was the most appealing to me. I also felt that it was more “authentic” (Remember I am Australian so I could be wrong when it comes to authenticity here) I also thought that it would be more spicy and I really wanted to cook something with a bit of “kick” to it if that makes any sense.

There were so many different varieties. I found a recipe for Cajun Jambalaya but I wasn’t drawn to it as the recipe said that with the Cajun variety you don’t add tomatoes and I love tomatoes in my food. I also did not realise, and remember I am Australian so I am not up to speed here, that Cajun and Creole are two totally different things. I always thought that they were the same thing.

The more I researched Jambalaya the more I came to the realization that my recipe may have been “based” on a Creole version but really it was a “White Jambalaya” version, which apparently is rarely made in Louisiana. I had to laugh out aloud when I read that description as here I was trying to be as authentic as I could yet I was cooking the easy and quick version! The white version is considered the quick version as it’s meant to shorten the cooking time. So that’s where I went wrong! I knew I should have delved deeper into my research before cooking!

So The Husband and I sat down at dinnertime at the dinner table and I served my version of the dish. Well what do I say? The smell was divine, the dish looked beautiful and colourful, the taste was lovely yet I was a bit let down as, and if this makes any sense, the smells were way much better than the actual taste. Let me elaborate, it tasted beautiful but I found it was not “spicy” enough. I thought that it would have a bigger kick to it. I thought I would have to have a glass of water with every few mouthfuls as I thought it would blow my socks off spicy wise. So for that I was sort of let down.

I think the next time I make this dish and I will make it again as I want to and expect myself to perfect it, I wont cook it in the slow cooker and I will need to add more of the spices and seasonings. I will make the Creole version again but this time I will not opt for the quick route! Slow and steady always wins the race as they say.

I shouldn’t be so hard on myself though as I do live on the other side of the planet and we have no Cajun or Creole Supermarkets where I can buy the real and proper and authentic ingredients. So in a sense this was an “Australian” version of the dish and it I think I did a pretty good job of it.

I really would like to attempt Gumbo next as that looks and sounds delicious as well. Even though I live a million miles away from New Orleans I want to bring the food, taste and smells of New Orleans into my home for my friends and family and to try.

I’ve also promised myself that one day and hopefully one day soon I will be in New Orleans eating the real authentic deal!

DH

xoxo