Cajun Crawfish Jambalaya - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1/2 c. Crisco oil
6 1/2 c. water
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 c. finely diced hot smoked sausage
1 1/2 c. chopped white onion
3/4 c. chopped shallots
1 c. chopped celery
1/4 c. chopped bell pepper
2 Tbsp. chopped garlic
1 (No. 303) can whole tomatoes
3 Tbsp. tomato sauce
1 1/2 c. ground boiled crawfish tails
1 1/2 c. whole boiled crawfish tails
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
2 tsp. minced parsley
3 c. uncooked long grain rice

Preparation

In a large cast-iron Dutch oven, pour oil and half of the water; add the bouillon cube and smoked sausage.
Saute everything for 4 minutes over medium-high heat.
Cook and stir until the bouillon cube melts and the sausage begins to shrivel up.
Toss in the onion, shallots, celery, bell pepper and garlic; quickly stir-fry until the vegetables wilt slightly.
At this point, toss in the whole tomatoes and tomato sauce; stir-fry for a couple of minutes.
Put in the crawfish tails, both whole and ground pieces, along with rest of the water; stir well on medium-high heat. Sprinkle in salt, pepper and cayenne; toss in bay leaves.
Cook 3 or 4 minutes.
Gradually add rice.
Blend well.
Reduce heat to simmer.
Cover and let cook 18 minutes.
Do not remove the cover until rice is cooked.
The water will all be absorbed.
Just before you serve the jambalaya, stir in the parsley as a garnish.
Serves a bunch.