Jambalaya

I never tasted jambalaya until I was in my 30s. We were living in San Jose, CA, and from time to time my husband would pick up some ribs and sides from a barbecue joint in nearby Morgan Hill. The ribs were delicious and so was the coleslaw. Once, though, he came home with a side order of jambalaya. It was so good, that it became an instant favorite. At about the same time, I started watching Justin Wilson, the Cajun chef, on a local TV station. I decided to try making jambalaya myself, but I didn't really follow a recipe. I just combined what I saw in the jambalaya from the barbecue joint and some of the info I got from Justin Wilson's show. It turned out pretty good, and I've been making it ever since.

Jambalaya is an easy dish to make without a lot of salt because it's filled with a lot of flavorful ingredients. However, traditional jambalaya is often made with both ham and sausage. Obviously, I can't use both of those ingredients in a low sodium version, so I just stick with the sausage. Andouille sausage is the traditional Cajun choice, but sometimes I can't find it. I often opt for using any hot, smoked sausage available. Here's where portion control is important. A typical jambalaya recipe for four could call for 1/2 pound of sausage or more. I use only about 2 ounces. Whatever I don't use, gets packaged up in about 2 ounce portions and frozen for later use. I also slice the sausage thinly so that almost every bite has a little bit of that flavor.

Another key flavoring is the roux. Equal parts of oil and flour are cooked together over medium heat, stirring constantly until the roux turns a very dark brown. This takes a while, but it is necessary to a good tasting jambalaya. I usually make 1/2 cup to 1 cup's worth at a time. The extra can be refrigerated and used for other dishes.

Although I know that it's traditional to cook everything in one big pot, I cook the rice separately. That's the way the barbecue restaurant did it, and that's what I'm accustomed to now. I usually make enough for four servings, so I get two meals out of it. And finally, I only use a handful of shrimp along with the chicken & sausage.

Jambalaya

4 chicken thighs (bone-in or boneless, skinless is fine too)
2 oz. smoked sausage, sliced thinly
8-12 medium raw shrimp, deveined (pre-cooked shrimp may also be used)
1 large onion, chopped
1 large bell pepper, chopped (any color or combination of colors will do)
2-3 stalks celery, sliced thinly
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (use more or less according to your taste)
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1 (14 oz.) can unsalted diced tomatoes
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup flour
Oil for sauteing vegetables & chicken
Cooked rice (I use brown rice)

Make the roux by combining the flour & oil in a saucepan and cooking over medium heat until the color is a deep, dark brown. Stir frequently. Do not let the mixture burn. Set aside.

In a dutch oven, saute the onion, bell pepper, and celery in about 1 tablespoon oil until soft and tender. Remove vegetables and add chicken to pot; add a bit more oil if necessary. Saute until nicely browned on both sides. Return vegetables to pot, adding garlic and roux. Cook together until garlic begins to give off its fragrance.

Add diced tomatoes, chicken broth, thyme and cayenne pepper. Cover dutch oven and simmer until chicken is barely tender, about 2o minutes. Add sliced sausage and cook another 10 minutes.

Once chicken is completely tender, add shrimp. Continue simmering just until shrimp is cooked through, about 7-10 minutes. (If the shrimp is already cooked, just add them and take pot off stove. The residual heat from the jambalaya will warm up the shrimp sufficiently.)

Serve over rice.

The Low Sodium Pantry: Oil

Along with my many bottles of vinegar, I’ve got several bottles of oils. For all purpose cooking, I use olive oil. Yup, it’s in my Greek blood. I use a lighter olive oil for sautéing and extra virgin for everything else. The extra virgin olive oil has a rich flavor that adds so much to dishes. It’s great to drizzle over any tomato-based dish right before serving too. It adds a sumptuous flavor to pasta and is perfect for dressing cooked and raw vegetables. Extra virgin solidifies when refrigerated, so it’s best to use half light and half extra virgin when making salad dressings.

I also keep garlic, lemon, orange, basil, and rosemary flavored olive oils on hand. Must haves include Asian toasted sesame oil, Asian chili oil, and toasted walnut & toasted almond oil. I don’t use these flavored oils much for cooking, mainly for finishing or sprinkling on right before serving.

A bit of garlic or lemon olive oil is wonderful on cooked vegetables. Lately I’ve been using the lemon oil when I bake fish. I’ll coat the baking dish with it and combine it with breadcrumbs for a crunchy lemon-scented topping. I’ve done the same thing with either the garlic oil or rosemary oil & boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Orange flavored olive oil brightens cooked beets. Of course, any of the flavored oils would be good in a salad dressing. Be sure to use a light flavored oil when making the dressing and then substitute just one or two tablespoons with a flavored oil. A splash of rosemary olive oil combined with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar reduction, and you’ve got a wonderful tasting salt-free salad or vegetable topping.

I use the Asian chili oil when I want to add some subtle heat to a dish (just be sure to add only a few drops at a time – it’s hot). The toasted sesame oil is great in Asian salad dressing. You can also use it when making hummus, especially if you don’t have a jar of tahini handy. It also makes a quick Asian inspired sauce for cooked vegetables. Just combine equal parts toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, & low sodium soy sauce. Add a bit of ginger & garlic if you’ve got them hand. Pour over your vegetables and sprinkle with toasted sesame seed. A deliciously different take on vegetables.

Add a couple of tablespoons of toasted walnut oil to a basic vinaigrette recipe. Then sprinkle chopped toasted walnuts on your salad. You get a double whammy of walnut flavor. You can do the same thing with toasted almond oil and slivered or sliced toasted almonds. Great on a salad or on any cooked vegetable.

Also the flavored olive oils come in handy if you’re particularly fond of a store-bought salad dressing. You can pre-dress your salad with an unsalted flavored olive oil and then add your favorite store-bought dressing. You won’t have to use as much because the greens are already dressed, but you’ll get the flavor. Because you’re using less store-bought dressing, you’ll also be ingesting less salt. I do that with my husband’s absolute favorite salad dressing, Bob’s Big Boy Blue Cheese Dressing. By pre-dressing the greens with an olive oil, the Bob’s Big Boy flavor goes a long way and I’m able to better control the sodium content.

Grocery stores carry several brands of olive oil. It’s good to have both extra virgin and a lighter olive oil on hand. You can find chili oil and toasted sesame oil in the Asian food section of most grocery stores too. My local grocery stores also carry some La Tourangelle products, including their roasted walnut oil. I originally ordered a trio of their roasted walnut, roasted almond, and roasted hazelnut oils from Amazon. I’m fortunate in that I am able to buy flavor infused olive oils from my local farmer’s market. That’s where I picked up the lemon, orange, and rosemary flavored oils. Trader Joe’s usually has garlic infused olive oil as do most of my local grocery stores. Specialty food shops, Cost Plus World Market, and even some natural foods stores also carry some flavored oils.

Good quality flavored olive oils can be purchased on line too. I realize that purchasing products online can be expensive. The thing to remember about any of these more expensive flavored oils is that they pack a big flavor punch when just using a tablespoon or so. So one bottle can last a long time.

Here are some sites for ordering flavored olive oils. Check them out to get an idea of what is available. You probably will find other sources nearer to you.

Stone House Olive Oil
Sonoma Farm
Sciabica
The Olive Tap

Fasolakia: Greek Stewed String Beans

A few weeks ago one of the largest Greek Orthodox churches in Sacramento held their annual Greek Food Festival. We've attended the festival several times in the past. Although we didn't attend this latest one, my daughter and her boyfriend did. A few days later they brought us a Greek-style lunch and some goodies they got from the festival.

Sarah made some tabouleh and fasolakia to go with the loukaniko and psomi she bought at the festival. Loukaniko is a sausage flavored with fennel seeds and orange peel. My husband's favorite! Psomi is Greek peasant bread, baked in a circle and crusted with sesame seeds. We grilled the sausage, spooned mounds of tabouleh salad on our plates, served up the fasolakia, and cut up chunks of bread to sop up the sauce with. A wonderful meal!

About a week ago, I picked up some fresh green beans at the farmer's market and a rosemary foccacia bread. We had enjoyed the fasolakia Sarah made earlier so much that I wanted to make some myself. Friends of ours were coming over for dinner that night, so I wanted to somehow make the green beans into a one pot meal. I didn't have any potatoes on hand, but I did have some frozen skinless, boneless chicken thighs. I decided to add some chunks of sauteed chicken thighs to the green bean stew. I also didn't have any fresh parsley on hand, so I used about 2 tablespoons of dried parsley and added 1 teaspoon each of dried Greek oregano, dried mint, and dried dill weed (a classic Greek combo of flavorings). With the bread to dip into the flavorful sauce, I had a perfect home style Greek meal. This was the kind of meal my dad loved, with lots of vegetables & lots of broth.

A couple of notes: Greeks love vegetable stews. Their stews will often prominently feature one vegetable as opposed to an assortment of vegetables. Fasolakia features green beans. You could do the same thing, with the same flavorings, using all zucchini, or green peas, or even okra. Also, Greek people like their vegetables cooked all the way through. None of that crisp-tender stuff.

Here is the original family recipe with notations about making it low sodium. The combination of herbs made the sauce so flavorful that we didn't even miss the salt. Also, here is a video from the TV series we produced for our local cable access channel.

Fasolakia
(Greek Stewed String Beans)

A flavorsome combination of green beans stewed in a tasty tomato sauce. Simple, healthful, and delicious. A wonderful holiday alternative to the usual cream soup based green bean casseroles.

2 pounds string beans, fresh or frozen
2 onions, chopped
2 – 4 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup olive oil (I use about 1/4 cup now)
1 - 8 ounce can (no salt added) tomato sauce
¼ - ½ cup fresh parsley, chopped (I used 2 tbsp. dried parsley)
1-2 teaspoons mint (I used 1 tsp. each of dried mint, oregano, & dill)
2 potatoes, peeled and cut in 1-2 inch chunks (any kind of potato will work)
2 carrots, sliced
1 cup water or low sodium broth (I used low sodium chicken broth)
2 teaspoons salt (I omitted)
Pepper to taste

In Dutch oven, sauté onion lightly in olive oil. Add tomato sauce, string beans, and remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer over medium heat for about 60 minutes or until all vegetables are tender. Check after 30 minutes; add more water or broth if necessary. Serve hot or room temperature.