Mom's Recipe: Jambalaya Pasta

Lately, my bum-life philosophy has been revolving around food. Anything that has to do with fulfilling hunger, baking, cooking or savory, I am definitely all over it. I suppose that's an inevitable result of having a little too much free time on hand. Nevertheless, I am not complaining. I've become quite domestic, and I am proud to say it.

Yesterday (Monday 7/6), I have finally perfected mom-style-jambalaya-pasta.

Woo.

Just ask Jack, it was darn good.

Jambalaya is one of the most famous southern food; in fact, New Orleans, Louisiana is quite well-known for its cajun jambalaya. In Texas (my lovely home state), it is still popular though not on the same level as the infamous tex-mex. I learned how to cook jambalaya from my mom who originally learned from Emeril on Food Network.

It sounds rather complicated, but I enjoy taking 40 minutes to an hour out of my bum life to cook it because the end result is just too good. You can easily change the recipe depending on your craving. For example, instead of using sausages, I use chicken and shrimp. Instead of making the sauce TOO spicy, I make it moderately spicy mostly because I can't eat any spicy food. Instead of using penne, I use bow tie or rotini only because I prefer those types of pasta.

So here is the recipe:
Ingredients: bow tie or rotini pasta, chicken, shrimp, onion, jambalaya spice, salt, pepper, milk, diced tomatoes, parsley, parmesan cheese.
Directions:
1. Add pasta to boiling water and cook
2. Cut up chicken into 1-inch cubes (or smaller)
3. Chop up onions
4. Add chicken and onion into a hot frying pan. Add salt, pepper and spice. Cook chicken.
5. Move chicken to a bowl
6. Add shrimp to the same frying pan. Add salt, pepper and spice. Cook.
7. Add diced tomatoes and milk to pasta in a sauce pan. Add spice. Keep on low heat.
8. Add cooked chicken/shrimp/onion to the sauce pan.
9. Stir/Mix/etc.
10. Add parmesan and parsley
DONE.

YJ