MINNESOTA JAMBALAYA: A Southern Dish With A Northern Spin

Chef G. To The Rescue

Hi folks, thank you for coming back to the Chef G. Cooking Channel and subjecting yourself to another round of obnoxious cooking and commentary.  I'm your host, Chef G., and today I'm here to save your next social gathering with possibly the most awesome of all my awesome recipes. 

I'm willing to bet that many of you have been fretting for weeks over what kind of food you're going to serve at your upcoming Academy Awards party.  (Or, for that matter, your NCAA basketball finals party, or your next Super Bowl party, block party, wedding reception, bar mitzvah, political rally, charity event, open house, business meeting, or soiree.  It doesn't matter, because this dish can be incorporated into almost ANY festive occasion.)  You've compiled your guest list, you've sent out the invitations, and you've put together a provisional seating chart.  You've got the big screen TVs strategically placed for optimal viewing from almost every room of your house.  You've vacuumed the carpets, mopped the kitchen, dusted the woodwork, scrubbed the toilets, and exterminated the spiders and cockroaches.  Still, there is that one nagging question eating at your brain:  "What the heck am I going to cook for my diverse group of friends that will be delicious, won't be too complicated to make, and won't result in shame and embarrassment for me?  Chicken wings?  Pizza?  Finger sandwiches?  Cocktail wienies?  Pigs in a blanket?"

BORING!

With the Academy Awards ceremony rapidly approaching, it's time for me to put your mind at ease.  That's right, I'm going to solve your food problem with this attempt to put a Minnesota spin on a Cajun classic--a freaky blend of southern and northern cuisine.  

The key word there is "attempt."  I haven't actually made a Minnesota version of jambalaya before, so I guess it's pretty cocky of me to say I'm going to rescue all of your future parties with an untested recipe.  On the other hand, I have made traditional jambalaya before and it is probably the tastiest jambalaya in the world.  Plus, I AM a self-proclaimed celebrity chef.  Everything I cook turns to gold.

This experimental recipe will incorporate a few distinctly Minnesotan ingredients, but don't worry too much--it won't stray too far from the perfection of an authentic Cajun jambalaya.  I hope.

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A Two Sentence History of Cajuns:

The Cajuns (Acadians) are an ethnic group with French ancestry who were forced out of the Canadian Maritime Provinces during some kind of dispute with the British a long time ago.  They settled in southern Louisiana and have maintained their own unique dialect, culture and cuisine.

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Now, you may have noticed that I have a French name.  I also have some French-Canadian roots but, to my knowledge, I am not a Cajun.  While the Cajuns were migrating to Louisiana to cook their gumbo and jambalaya, my ancestors migrated to Michigan's Upper Peninsula where they ate pasties.  Generations later, I ended up in Minnesota and somehow started to gain an appreciation for Cajun food.   I know it's all very confusing, so I created this map to better illustrate what the heck I'm talking about.

The area circled in red is the Cajun homeland.  The brown line indicates the Cajun migration
route.  The area in the blue circle is the new Cajun stronghold.  The green dotted-line is the
migration route of this jambalaya recipe from Louisiana to Minnesota, which is shown in
the purple circle.  Got it?

Now that the preliminaries are out of the way, it's time to gather the ingredients from my Minnesota refrigerator so we can commence with the cooking.

If you live in a southern climate and don't have a Minnesota
refrigerator, a regular refrigerator can be substituted.

 

Let's see . . . I have some of the items I'll be needing, but it looks
 like I'll have to make a trip to the grocery store for the rest.

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A Whole Lotta Photos Showing The Ingredients

A big trend in the foodie world these days is the use of locally-sourced ingredients.  In order to be taken seriously as a legitimate celebrity chef, I figured I had better adopt that philosophy too--at least for the purposes of this meal.  As much as possible, (and to the extent that it didn't inconvenience me) the ingredients I have chosen for my Minnesota Jambalaya are local, organic, humanely-raised, environmentally responsible, gluten-free, non-GMO, and very, very expensive.  I've covered all the bases; anything less would expose me as a culinary rube, a gustatorial hack, and I sure don't need that kind of reputation when I'm trying to establish myself as a major on-line superstar.

Now let's have a look at the ingredients individually.

2 Cups Chopped Onion
1 1/2 Cups Chopped Celery
One Chopped Green Bell Pepper
2 Large Cloves of Minced Garlic
(Cajuns refer to the onion-green pepper-celery trifecta as "The Holy Trinity."
In Minnesota we're not quite so grandiose.  I'm going to call it "The Righteous
Trio."  Not quite holy, but still pretty special.)

1 1/2 Pounds of Chicken Thighs Cut Into 1" Pieces

12 oz. Sausage cut into small pieces

[Special Note:  In addition to the sausage and chicken, a Louisiana jambalaya generally contains shrimp.  Since shellfish are not native to Minnesota, and we have an abundance of chickens here, I've eliminated the shrimp and added extra chicken for this recipe.  Also, I took the liberty of substituting a locally made Polish sausage for Cajun Andouille sausage.  After all, Minnesota has way more Poles than Cajuns.]

3 Cups Uncooked White Rice
1/3 Cup Pre-cooked Wild Rice
(The wild rice is another Minnesota twist.  I am incorporating a modicum
of that delicious grain--cultivated in the wetlands of northern Minnesota--
for additional regional authenticity.)

A couple strands of Saffron, 1/2 Tsp. Cayenne Pepper, Four or
five whole dried Chili Peppers, and Salt & Black Pepper to taste.

3/4 Cup Chopped Tomatoes
2 Sliced Green Onions

The Sauces.  (Yes, the 48 oz. can of chicken broth is a bit of a cheat.
As a master chef, I should have made my own broth by boiling a 
chicken carcass for a few hours.  But I just didn't have the time--
and neither will you on the day of your Academy Awards party.)

One Strip of Bacon Cut Up Into Pieces to Grease the pan.

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Let's Cook! 

The most time consuming and labor intensive part of this recipe is the slicing and dicing and chopping.  Once that's done, the cooking is the easy part.  The cooking is also the best smelling part.  Enjoy all the wonderful aromas as you heat up the burners, add the ingredients, stir the pots & pans, and spice things up.

The first step is to heat up the bacon until the frying pan gets nice and greasy.  Add the chicken and cook until it's no longer pink.  Then add the sausage and saute for another six minutes.

It will probably look like this.

While the meat products are cooking, heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a heavy cast iron pot.  It goes without saying that you should not use plain olive oil, or even virgin olive oil, but only EXTRA virgin olive oil.  Vegetable oil would work just fine, but it's not nearly as pretentious as extra virgin olive oil, and us celebrity chefs are nothing if not pretentious.

When the extra virgin olive oil is nice and hot, add the righteous trio to the pot and stir frequently.  Again, take the time to appreciate the beautiful aroma wafting into your kitchen.

After watching that video, I'm sure you'll agree that my on-camera presence definitely needs a little work.  Perhaps I was a little nervous.  Perhaps I was overwhelmed by the aroma of sweet onions, celery, and bell peppers.  Perhaps a different chef's hat will give me more self-confidence.  

After attending to the righteous trio for a couple of minutes, add the garlic, the cayenne pepper, and the whole chilis.  Saute for another five minutes.  MORE irresistible scents will invade your nostrils.

Don't sniff the scents too long though.  You'll eventually have to move on.  Add the chicken broth, the chicken and the sausage.  Bring to a boil.  Then add the white & wild rice, the tomatoes, the salt & pepper, the strands of saffron, and a quarter-cup of soy sauce.

Don't sniff the scents too long though.  You'll eventually have to add
the chicken broth, the chicken & sausage pieces, the white & wild 
rice, the salt & pepper, the strands of saffron, the tomatoes, and a
quarter cup of soy sauce. 

Bring all that stuff to a rapid boil and then reduce the heat.  Cover the pot and allow it to simmer for 20-25 minutes until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice.  The waiting can be difficult, but try to relax.  Let the flavors of every ingredient meld into one delicious Minnesota jambalaya.

When the 20-30 minutes have elapsed, THIS is the beautiful 
vision that awaits you.  DIG IN!

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Let's Eat! 

In gourmet food circles it is considered de rigueur to serve wine with a fine meal such as this.  Call me gauche, but I don't serve wine . . . not with this or any other meal.  I serve beer.  Good beer.  I don't care what YOU want to do, but if you want wine at MY Academy Awards party you will have to bring your own.

Whatever you choose to serve, adult beverages will be especially necessary this year because nobody I know gives a rat's ass about what movie gets the Oscar for best picture.  Thanks to the Corona Virus, very few people have seen any of the nominated films.

No matter whether you'll be rooting for this or that movie or no movie at all, I highly recommend serving a Minnesota beer with Minnesota jambalaya.  That's just how it's done.

  

Surly is a fine Minnesota Brewing company and Furious IPA is its flagship
 beer.  Surly and Furious will also be good descriptions of my disposition
if the Minnesota jambalaya doesn't turn out well.

Fortunately, it DID turn out well.  In fact, it was astoundingly delicious.  I was like one of those celebrity chefs on TV who, at the end of every episode, taste the dish they just cooked and say "Mmmmmmmm, that is SO good."  I did the same thing.

Mmmmmmmm, that is SO good!
(By the way, if the cayenne pepper and the whole chilis don't provide
enough heat for you, feel free to sprinkle as much hot sauce onto the
jambalaya as you desire.  Such masochism defies Minnesota taste
buds, but we're pretty non-judgmental.)

Let's Summarize!

The knowledge that this article probably saved your Academy Awards party has made my hours of work creating this recipe and slaving over a hot stove totally worth the effort.  The only problem is that I now have my own dilemma.  Mrs. Chef G. and I have eaten all of the Minnesota jambalaya over the last three days.  Now I don't know what I'm going to serve my own Oscars guests.  I don't think I want to put myself through all that again in just a couple of weeks.  I have a feeling my movie-loving friends will have to settle for pretzels and potato chips.