Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Slow Cooked Jambalaya



This is my Jambalaya recipe with a twist. The twist would be the substitution of spelt grains instead of the traditional long grain rice that is used. Spelt is low in calories but very high in protein, at about 11 grams per cup.

I cooked mine for 3 hours on high and then, because it was still a bit watery, I tilted the lid off the slow cooker slightly to allow some of the moisture to evaporate for the last hour. You can even get fancier for this dish and add some vegan shrimp made from Vegetarian Plus. I hope you like this meal as much as I did.


Serves 6

Ingredients
* 6 cups vegetable stock or vegan "chicken" stock ( try Better than Bouillion )
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 1 cup finely chopped onion
* 1 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch dice
* 2 stalks celery, cut into small dice
* 1 zucchini, cut into 1/2 circles
* 1 Tb garlic, minced
* 3 Tb tomato paste
* 1/2 cup vegetable broth or cooking sherry
* 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes
* 1 bay leaf
* 1 Tb fresh thyme leaves
* 2 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp pepper
* 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
* 1/2 lb cubed vegan sausages or seitan
* 2 cups spelt
* 1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves, for garnish

Directions
1. Preheat a large heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. Saute the sausages in 2 tablespoons of olive oil according to the packaged directions. Or 4 to 5 minutes for the seitan, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Remove from pot and set aside.

2. Add the remaining olive oil to the pot and then add the onion, green pepper, celery, zucchini and garlic. Saute for 10 minutes.

3. Stir in the tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly for 4 minutes.

4. Stir in the vegetable broth or sherry to deglaze the vegetables and cook for 30 seconds.

5. Stir in the rice and cook for another 4 minutes.

5. Transfer the vegetable mixture to a slow cooker. Add the sausage, diced tomatoes, bay leaf, all the herbs, salt, pepper and the 6 cups of vegetable or "chicken" broth.

6. Cook for 6 to 8 hours on low or 3 to 4 hours on high.

7. Remove the bay leaf, stir and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh parsley.

11 comments:

  1. definitely bookmarking this. I've never had but i've been looking to give it a try. The recipe looks great!

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  2. ok, this looks amazingly yummy...definitely going to make it soon- thank you!

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  3. This looks so delicious, Jacklyn. I haven't eaten supper yet, and I so wish I had everything to make this. Nice...;)!

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  4. That bowl of jambalaya is a thing of beauty. Looks so yummy!

    Thanks for the recipe

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  5. Slow cooker jambalaya sounds amazing. I need to make jambalaya again - can you believe I haven't made it since I discovered Tofurkey sausage? I'll try your take on it. Your seasoning blend sounds right on.

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  6. Where can I find Tofurkey Sausage? I've only seen the frozen patties from Morning Star. Yummy recipe!

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  7. I buy mine at Whole Foods. I've seen them at other natural food stores as well, such as Sprouts.

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  8. This looks simply delish! My way of cooking if ever there was one: slow cooker! Yum!

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  9. Mmm, that looks like a fabulous dish! I love Tofurky sausages, too. Slow cooking just seems to bring out all the flavors of the meal.

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  10. Wonderful recipe! Did you add the diced tomatoes along with the spelt and heat for four minutes before adding everything to the slow cooker? Or did you add the diced tomatoes later into the slow cooker?

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  11. Oops I forgot to write that step down. The diced tomatoes should be added to step 5. I added them directly to the slow cooker. Thank you for bringing this to my attention : ]

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