I remember growing up that there’d always be a few shrimp here or there.
*RING!* Oh!
Hello?
Hi, I’m Rissa. This is My Kitchen Sink.
Today I will be making jambalaya.
Fun fact, this is the first dish my mom taught me how to make when I was going
to college.
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I got all my ingredients from Whole Foods and I spent around 50 bucks.
My mom gave me this recipe. I think she might have found it on like the
foodnetwork.com or some online site and she amended it, and I amended it,
and it is what it is, which is very meat heavy I will say, and very spicy.
First thing I do is I chop my veggies. Of course I have the Holy Trinity.
Celery, onion, and green pepper. It goes in any Cajun dish you make.
Also, I’m not very good at the onion chopping.
I’ve watched many tutorials on YouTube.
I always cry. It always looks really messy.
When I’m by myself, I actually either wear my glasses, or my swim goggles
to chop onions, but that’s not cute, so it’s not being done here.
Going to college, I was like really worried about food.
I knew food halls were the worst thing in the world.
And so, I asked my mom, “What are some dishes I can make that will like,
last a long time.”
Whatever recipe I do, I double it.
I’m a person who can eat the same meal for a week straight and it’s fine.
Be like, “Oh, it’s been there for 2 or 3 days. It's old. It's bad."
I’m like, “No.”
Expiration dates are just a suggestion.
I already see the mean comments be like, “No, they definitely aren’t a suggestion.”
So, I don’t eat celery in any other capacity. You know, a lot of girls have
it like with their peanut butter, or you know, as a kid with ants on a log.
I only like it in like a stew form with lots of seasoning, where I can’t taste
it at all, but it gives a good texture.
Isn’t this so loud? The chopping?
A little faster for you guys.
The veggies are done.
We flip and over, and we have our meat board.
So, I love the smell of sausages. You can smell all the seasoning in here.
Mmm, delicious.
This is what it looks like on the inside.
See the pepper, like here’s some paprika, like which gives it the beautiful coloring.
Might make your food a little salty, but when you eat it,
it’s like you’re living.
I get a lot of my inspiration really from my mom.
She’s the one who taught me how to taste things.
Taught me to like, to experiment with my cooking.
She’s like my #1 cooking role model. More than that, model for life.
Here’s some raw chicken. Looks kinda gross.
I think that shears are really under utilized in the kitchen.
Really easy to break apart and clean.
My cooking style is very like, fly by the seat of my pants.
Anything goes basically. As long as it’s like flavorful.
I just hate dry things. Like dry chicken.
Uh.
Disgusting.
I like using spices. It’s cooking, it’s not baking.
So, you can like mess up and easily remedy it.
If it’s like too much of everything, just add more
of everything, and hopefully, cross your fingers and pray.
Now I’m going to mix the meats together.
I’m going to add in my seasoning.
It’s a bunch of different spices, on top is paprika, it’s a big staple
in Cajun cooking.
But before I do, I’m going to go check my book because
I don’t wanna put too much in there.
This is my recipe book.
It’s just like a small, 3-ring binder that my mom gave me.
And it has all my favorite recipes in it. 2 tablespoons.
I’m gonna add my chicken. And I’m just gonna kinda coat it.
Next step is I’m going to peel, devein, and cut the shrimp.
I like to make them a little smaller. I got pretty big ones.
I’m just going to cut them in half. More like normal shrimp.
Now that has been seasoned, I’m going to rinse off this hand, and then I’m going
to pop over and get cookin.
Come along.
Never have too many onions. I'm going above the suggested amount.
That’s all it is, a suggestion.
You’ve chopped, you’ve diced, you’ve prepped your heart out.
This is do or die time.
I always believe that if someone asks you for seconds, or if
they get seconds, it means you’ve won.
Or they’re like very hungry, but mostly you’ve won.
I knew that this dish was fire was when my boyfriend asked me to make it for him.
And this is a man who only eats his mother’s cooking.
The moment he asked for my jambalaya, I knew it was a hit.
My bay leaves, which are essential.
After I add in my rice, I’m going to add in some broth.
Value size.
It’s been around 12 minutes. Now I’m gonna add in my meat.
It looks like the pot was just big enough.
Anymore, we would have been in trouble.
My biggest kitchen splurge, I’m really into buying things that will like last me
a lifetime, like my cast iron skillets. They’re my most precious item.
I figure if like, I love them, they’ll love me.
And we’re like a good partner.
Love ya girls.
So, when I’m cooking most of what I’m doing is making up dance routines.
And you know, adding a little booty bump to it while stirring.
So much food guys.
Last step I’ll take the rest of my seasoning and kinda just
sprinkle it in there.
Before I go on…
Ugh.
You can see the shrimp.
You can see the chicken, sausage, little bit in
every bite.
And voilà.
Now we will eat.
Mmm, mmm, good.
I love making jambalaya for so many reasons.
I think because it’s a pretty easy dish to make.
And also, it really reminds me of home.
Southern hospitality is a real thing and really doesn’t matter like,
what you cook, as long as you put love into it. It’s what makes it taste good.
Maybe it’s something that we’re taught in the South.
It’s how you like, show people that you care.
Thanks Mom for that. So good.
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