Chicken Jambalaya

This extremely flavoursome dish of Cajun origin is known by all of my friends and family as my signature dish. I stumbled across this a couple of years ago in a recipe book from a charity shop and since then most people have been treated to this dish at least once when they have been round for dinner. Calling it my signature dish is rather tenuous as the only change to the original recipe that I have made is that I use diced Chorizo sausage rather than ham. There are thousands of different variations of this recipe out there so you can experiment with different ingredients if you like, but just remember that the tripartite of Cajun cooking is onion, celery and green peppers - it isn't a jambalaya without these so don't leave them out!

Ingredients:

A Whole Chicken (cut into eight)
125g Chorizo Sausage (diced)
Large Brown Onion (peeled and chopped)
400g Tin of Tomatoes
2 Sticks of Celery (very finely diced)
2 Green Peppers (finely diced)
2 Garlic Cloves
2 Bay Leaves
Tbsp Fresh Thyme (chopped)
Paprika
Tabasco Sauce
Pint of Chicken Stock
225g Long Grain Rice
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Method:

1. Heat some olive oil in a large casserole dish and fry over the chicken for 6-7 mins until browned. Lift the chicken pieces onto a plate and sprinkle with a little salt & pepper.

2. Add the onion to the casserole and soften for about 5 mins, then add the peppers and celery and cook for a further 5 mins.

3. Increase the heat slightly and add the diced chorizo, then add the tomatoes, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, paprika, some salt & pepper, and tabasco sauce to taste. Add the chicken pieces and push them under the mixture. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 mins.

4. Stir in the rice and the stock, cover and cook for about 25 mins, or until the chicken is cooked and most of the stock has been absorbed. Take out the bay leaves, sprinkle the parsley on top and serve with some crusty bread.