Campfire Jambalaya
Campfire Jambalaya 101.
The secret of creating a campfire jambalaya is doing the prep work at home. This is very much “all in the pool” kinda meal. And it’s great for camping because it is hearty, delicious and simple. And you need two things at camp, a cast iron dutch oven and a stainless steel spoon. This will feed 6.
This particular meal was served on Day Two of a 24 mile paddle on the Upper James River. It was great! There we no leftovers.
1 lb of pre-cut chicken breasts. I froze mine pre-trip
1-2 packages pre-cut, pre-cooked andouille sausage
1 1/2 Cup of jasmine rice
2 cups of seafood stock
1 diced yellow (or red) bell pepper
1 diced sweet onion
3 stalks celery
Olive oil
1 14 oz can of petite cut roasted tomatoes
Ideally 4 garlic cloves, smashed, but I used garlic powder (1 tbsp)
Cayenne pepper to taste (1 tsp)
Crushed red pepper to taste (1 tbsp)
Cajun seasoning (I used Tony’s)
Cut up the holy trinity (onions, celery and bell pepper) and put in a container. Measure out your rice and stock and put into containers.
At camp, make a fire early. If your eating at 6 pm, 4 pm is a good time to start. Use good, seasoned hardwood. Let it burn down to create a nice red-hot coal base.
Place your cast iron dutch oven on the coals. After a couple minute, put in a few tablespoons of olive oil. After a minute, spritz on a few drops of water. If they dance, you are good to go.
Put in the chicken, mix around to make sure everything is coated with the oil. Season with the Cajun seasoning. About a tablespoon. Sear quickly on one side and stir to sear the other. Do not try to cook through, we only want a quick sear. Add in the sausage.
Add the trinity, cook till semi-soft (a few minutes) and add the garlic.
Pour in the stock, the rice and the tomatoes and stir. Add the cayenne and crushed pepper to taste.
Once boiling, cover. If it’s a big boil, you’re good in 15 minutes. If it’s a gentle boil, 20 minutes is fine. Pull off the coals and let it rest, covered, for 5-10 minutes. Serve and enjoy.
A couple of caveats. This is not my normal Jambalaya. There’s no shrimp or crab. But I don’t want seafood in my cooler for a couple/few days. Also, my usual seafood stock is complex, actually more complex than this whole meal. So I just bought a box of seafood stock. It was fine. I usually use grilled chicken thighs. Also…how did I run out of garlic? Also, the andouille had a nice smoked flavor, but NO HEAT. Usually this is where my Jambalaya heat comes from. Fortunately I tasted it when making my paddle-pasta-salad lunch, so I packed the cayenne and red pepper flakes to bring up the heat.