Have you ever made Jambalaya from scratch? Jambalaya is such an easy and fun dish to make.

It’s light, flavorful, a bit spicy and just simply summer festive.

With fresh shrimp, andouille sausage, chicken, some rice and a few other delicious ingredients, you can create a fantastic quick one casserole meal for a weekday dinner or weekend lunch prior to going on a trip for the day.

Jambalaya

1½ cups of white rice, rinsed in cold water

2 cups of chicken broth

One 14½-ounce can of diced tomatoes

1 yellow onion, small dice

½ of a red and ½ of a green bell pepper; small dice

2 cloves of garlic, finely minced

½ cup of celery, small dice

1 pound of chicken thighs; boneless, skinless and cut into bite-sized pieces

½ pound of andouille sausage; cooked, sliced to about ¼-inch-thick slices

½ pound of large shrimp; cooked, peeled and deveined

1 teaspoon plus more of Creole seasoning; (The “plus more” is to sprinkle on the chicken.)

1 teaspoon of onion powder

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 teaspoon of paprika

½ teaspoon of dry thyme

1 bay leaf

A couple dashes of hot sauce

Salt and black pepper, to taste

1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Scallions, optional sliced for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large high-sided skillet, over medium high heat add in your oil and your sausage. Saute until sausage is browned. You are going to adding flavor to the andouille at this point. Remove the browned sausage and brown your chicken also in the skillet. Remove the browned chicken. Next, add in all of your diced vegetables but not the diced tomato yet.

Over medium low heat, saute the vegetables until softened. Keep the vegetables in the skillet. Add your spices and your rice. Mix and heat until the rice is coated and the spices are lightly toasted.

Pour in your diced tomatoes. Next add in your chicken and sausage and mix to combine. Place in your bay leaf.

Turn the heat up to simmer all. Place a lid on the skillet and set in the oven to bake for about 25-30 minutes, until the rice has absorbed the liquid and everything is cooked through. Season the shrimp with salt, black pepper and Creole seasoning. Place the shrimp into the hot skillet and mix. Place the lid on for about 3-5 minutes to cook the shrimp through.

Mix, take out the bay leaf and garnish with scallions.

Sarah Schweitzer is dual-certified in Culinary Arts and Baking & Pastry from the Escoffier School of Culinary Arts (www.escoffier.edu). She is a former line cook for Chef Robert Irvine at “Fresh Kitchen by Robert Irvine” which was located at the Downtown Allentown Market. Sarah is currently working as a Sous-Chef and pastry chef at Ateira’s on First and has her own blog simplysarah.online. She can be reached at sarah.schweitzer18@gmail.com.