Jambalaya a la Everything

Serves: 6-10

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. chicken, pork, or beef fat
• 3.5 lb. chicken, cut into serving pieces
• 1/4 lb. smoked ham, cubed
• 1 lb. smoked sausage (polish, garlic, french), sliced
• 2 c. chopped onions
• 1 c. chopped celery
• 1 c. bell pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 c. long grain rice
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1.5 tsp. hot red pepper flakes
• 1.5 tsp. thyme
• 2 bay leaves, crushed
• 1/4 tsp. allspice
• 1 pint shucked oysters
• 3 c. hot chicken, beef, or fish broth
• 1 lb. ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
• 1/2 lb. shelled shrimp
• rind of 1 lemon

Steps:

1. Heat fat in heavy skillet, and fry chicken pieces until well browned. Remove and let cool, then cut meat from the bones into 2-inch cubes.
2. Fry ham and sliced sausages in the same fat. Remove and set aside. Mix onions, celery, bell pepper, and garlic together, save 3/4 cup for garnish, and saute the remainder in the fat, until wilted, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in rice and seasonings and saute 3-4 minutes to coat the grains with oil. Add chicken, ham, and sausages.
4. Drain oysters and add their liquid to the rice. Add hot broth, stir rice well with a fork, cover pan, and simmer over low heat until rice and chicken are barely tender.
5. Fold in tomatoes, shrimp, oysters, remaining vegetable garnish, and lemon rind. Bring to a simmer, cover, and let stand off heat about 10 minutes, or until the seafood is cooked but the shrimp still crunchy.

Notes:

• I've never deboned the chicken.
• I almost always use kielbasa for the sausage.
• I've tried all sorts of seafood variations, including smoked oysters instead of fresh, mussels. I've thrown a lobster in.
• I like to use a piece of preserved lemon peel for the "lemon rind," but at that point it's almost anticlimactic.

Keywords: Cajun, Rice, Jambalaya.