Southern Style

As most of you already know, I am a full blown Southern Girl. Being a vegetarian in the South basically means you're missing out on most foods you grew up with.

With that said, I've pretty much kept it my goal to change just that!

Last week, while looking for a gumbo recipe, I stumbled upon this Jambalaya recipe and decided to give it a whirl. If you're not familiar, Jamabalaya is a traditional Louisiana Creole dish consisting of rice, meat (usually sausage, chicken, maybe shrimp), vegetabables and tomatoes. From my understanding, it was New Orleans' attempt at making "New World" Spanish Paella.

Wikipedia fills in my blanks with this:

 The most commonly repeated folklore is that the word derives from the combination of the French "jambon" meaning ham, the French article "à la" a contraction of "à la manière de" meaning "in the style of", and "ya", thought to be of West African origin, meaning rice.  

                                OR


 Late one evening a traveling gentleman stopped by a New Orleans inn which had little food remaining from the evening meal. The traveler instructed the cook, "Jean, balayez!" or "Jean, sweep something together!" in the local dialect. The guest pronounced the resulting hodge-podge dish as "Jean balayez."

Take your pick. I'm going to believe the first one.

Now, I haven't had Jambalaya in years!!! YEARS!

It is actually because of Jambalaya that I quit eating meat to begin with.

Up until a few years ago, I suffered with Migraines constantly. The horrible, crying, want-to-drive-myself-to-hospital kind. I'm pretty sure they started when I was 8. And then, after years of wondering if it was hormones, or too much sun, or too much noise, or if it was just genetics, I finally put the pieces together. I only got migraines when I went to parties or events. What do you eat at parties around here? Jambalaya (sausage), Gumbo (sausage), hot dogs, little smoked weiners, pepporoni pizza....and so on. Yep, I'm allergic to pork. I tested my theory out with jambalaya and quit eating meat all together shortly after.

So, you can see how I might miss Jambalaya! Running into this recipe has made me very happy, and even happier once I found out how good it came out!! I believe this recipe was originally adapted from Emeril Lagasse

Hearty swirl of olive oil- about 1/2 cup

2 cups yellow onions, small dice
1 cup red onions, small dice
1 cup bell peppers, small dice
1 cup celery, small dice
2 cups eggplant, diced
1 cup yellow squash, diced
1 cup zucchini, diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced shallots
3 cups chopped tomatoes (I think 2 cans of Rotel would be good too!)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, to taste (optional)
2 teaspoons Creole seasoning, to taste (I was out so I just used pepper and tabasco/hot sauce)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
3 bay leaves
4 cups long grain rice
1 cup tomato paste (2 small cans)
8 cups vegetable stock
1 cup chopped green onions

Heat the oil in a large heavy pot (when they say big, they mean giant! Try a soup pot!)over medium heat. Add the onions, shallots, bell peppers and garlic and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the eggplant, squash, and zucchini, and saute until they are pretty soft.  Add the tomatoes. Season with salt, Creole seasoning and additional cayenne if desired. Add the bay leave, then add the rice and stir for 2 to 3 minutes.

Heat the tomato paste in a non-stick pan and stir, making sure it doesn't stick or burn, until the sugars in the paste begin to caramelize, and the paste begins to turn a deep mahogany color. Deglaze with some of the stock, stir and combine thoroughly, then add the tomato paste to the rest of the stock and stir until well-blended.
Add the vegetable stock/tomato mixture, stir and cover. Cook for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed. Do not stir the jambalaya while it's cooking. Remove from heat and let stand for 2-3 minutes. Add the green onions and mix thoroughly.


Honestly, this recipe wore my arm out with all of the chopping but it was totally worth it! To make matters even better, you can substitute out some of the vegetables. If you don't have something on hand, just compensate with something else. The only ingredients I wouldn't cut back on or substitute would be the onions and garlic.
This is a great recipe to make when you are feeding a crowd. It makes a TON of food, and is pretty cheap to make.

Gluten free, vegetarian goodness= happy girl!