Crock-Pot jambalaya is an easy and delicious meal that frees up time for busy home cooks. It has its roots in paella and can be made with a variety of meats and vegetables. Slow cooking allows flavors to mix, and shortcuts like frozen meats and vegetables can save time.
The Crock-Pot is the busy home cook’s best friend. Whether the cook spends the day at the office or at home, preparing a meal with a crock-pot frees up hours of time and produces succulent meals with little cleanup. Jambalaya prepared in a slow cooker results in richly complex flavors. A fantastic jambalaya from Crock-Pot is easy to compose of whatever meats and vegetables are on hand, although fans of a true jambalaya will insist on sausage, chicken or andouille pork and shrimp plus onions, green or red peppers and celery . These things, along with canned diced tomatoes, chicken stock, rice, and a good Cajun seasoning, will cook up into an evening meal worth rushing home for.
Jambalaya lovers can thank the homesick Spaniards who have made New Orleans their home. Jambalaya has its roots in paella, a similar dish made with chicken, pork, and seafood, plus some vegetables and some rice, though true paella also calls for saffron, an ingredient that was both too expensive and not readily available in Louisiana at the time. Necessity is the mother of invention, so the Spanish experimented with local dishes such as duck, venison and lobster. Some have found alligator and turtle meat to be a good substitute for chicken.
The traditional Creole jambalaya, made in New Orleans, is made with tomatoes, but Cajuns prefer a smokier version that leaves out the tomatoes in favor of well-seared meat. Both styles work well for Crock-Pot jambalaya. The trick is to let the multitude of flavors mix for quite some time. This is a Crock-Pot dish that is best when prepared at a low temperature.
While slow cookers save time, a dish like Crock-Pot jambalaya typically contains a wide range of ingredients, and that can mean an extended prep time. Busy cook turns to some shortcuts to cut kitchen prep time. Using frozen prepared meats like chicken strips helps the cook get out the door much faster. Purchasing frozen mixed shellfish such as shrimp, squid, and crab cuts preparation time even further.
Frozen mixed onions, peppers and celery also take up quite a bit of time in the kitchen and make cleanup a breeze. Jambalaya aficionados might argue that the only authentic jambalaya is one where the seasoning is added one ingredient at a time, but the truth is, there are excellent Cajun and Creole spice blends available in most markets. If homemade chicken stock isn’t available, a good-quality canned or canned stock works just as well when making Crock-Pot jambalaya.
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