Hi folks – I love Dan Gritzer’s Creole-style jambalaya (https://www.seriouseats.com/creole-style-red-jambalaya-chicken-sausage-shrimp-recipe) as a side dish for a cookout, and plan to make it tomorrow morning for a Labor Day picnic. One person coming is pescatarian and I want to accommodate her dietary preferences by not using sausage in my preparation. I will be using chicken stock and cooking with whole bone-in chicken thighs that she can pick around, and she’s okay with that, but she won’t enjoy it if tastes like rendered pork fat, which it usually does. So, how can I get the right smoky and fatty flavors into the jambalaya without using any sausage?
Thoughts:
– I don’t like chicken sausages and don’t want to go that route
– I have good smoked paprika and smoked salt plus all the dried herbs and spices that go into andouille, so I’m sure a solution will include those things
– I considered making my own vegetarian “andouille” (I’ve seen a couple recipes out there) but pretty much that is just a way to get chunks of andouille-spiced food into the dish, and won’t give me the richness I’m looking for that comes with pork
– Maybe if I use my own rendered schmaltz to cook the vegetables and dump a whole ton of smoked paprika, with come cayenne, file, garlic, onion, and cumin powders with the trinity, it could work? I *think* she would still eat it if I did that?
Open to suggestions and ideas and being told that my ideas are wrong haha. Ultimately I’d rather make something my friend will eat and enjoy even if it’s not as amazing as jambalaya usually is. Thanks all!
by zqipper
4 Comments
I think the schmaltz idea is best. Doesn’t sound like your guest is a real pescatarian lol.
I would just bloom some spices in olive oil, and then cook down some cremini mushrooms in the highly seasoned oil until they’re browned, then toss those in.
She is not pescatarian, just annoying. Don’t change for just her fad diet that she is not even doing correctly.
If you have/can get hold of some, gojuchang has always made me think of the flavour of chorizo (which I think is similar to the type of sausage that would go into jambalaya).