Baked Jambalaya

[lvdkeyes]

Oven Baked Jambalaya

I made this for a party yesterday. It was delicious, but the rice was too gummy for me. Should I have reduced the amount of chicken stock or should I have used arborio rice instead of long grain rice?

Servings: 16

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1 large onion, diced
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
3 bay leaves
3 tablespoons Creole Seasoning Blend

4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes
7 cups chicken stock
3 cups chopped cooked ham
3 cups cooked andouille sausage, sliced
3 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite-sized
pieces
3 cups frozen cooked shrimp
4 cups uncooked long-grain white rice
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Melt butter in large stock pot. Saute onion, green pepper, celery and garlic until tender, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add tomato paste and cook to brown slightly, stirring constantly. Stir in bay leaves, Creole seasoning blend and Worcestershire sauce. Pour into a large roasting pan. Squeeze tomatoes to break up into pieces, and add to mixture in pan. Stir in juice from tomatoes, chicken stock, ham, sausage, chicken, shrimp and rice. Mix well. Cover tightly with aluminum foil.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours, stirring once halfway through baking time. Remove bay leaves before serving.

[Kitchen Witch]

You could cut out a heck-of-a-lot of baking time if you pre-cooked your rice (or used leftover) - I think it's in the baking time - too long in the oven - that will gum up any pasta or rice dish.

[lvdkeyes]

Thank you, I will try that next time.

[Kitchen Witch]

You're welcomed!

Cooking the rice will cut down like I said - but even if you don't cook the rice ahead of time - once the rice is cooked and everything is heated through - it's done.