Dining al desko: Pork and Maltese sausage jambalya

This one-pot dish is perfect when you have leftovers from a roast pork and want to whip something out that works to take to work the following the day. Though the recipe is traditionally from Louisiana in the US, substituting a few ingredients makes this particularly local. The original recipe uses spicy Andouille sausage, but Maltese sausage gives it pretty good flavour.

Pork and Maltese sausage jambalaya

Ingredients

• 2 Maltese sausage
• 500g pork, leftovers
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper (more if you like it spicy)
• 1 tsp Cajun spice
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 bell pepper
• 2 celery sticks
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup water
• 25g butter
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup long grain white rice
• 1 tin kidney beans
• Handful parsley
• 2 spring onions

Method

1. In a deep pan or Dutch oven, brown the sausage (removed from the casing) in hot oil with the Cajun spice and cayenne pepper.
2. When the sausage is browned, add the pork chunks and cook until warmed through.
3. Add the onion, garlic, bell peppers and celery, cover and cook until the vegetables are tender.
4. Add the chicken stock, water, butter and season with salt and pepper.
5. Bring to the boil and then add the rice and the beans and mix well.
6. Cover and cook for 20-30 mins until the rice is tender.
7. Add the parsley and spring onions at the end.

Rachel Zammit Cutajar

Rachel’s life has been one recipe after the other for almost 10 years. Though she is no longer editor of Gourmet Today magazine, food still takes centre stage. She is a freelance writer and Succeed’s resident chef. To balance the inevitable calorie intake she has become a reluctant runner and likes to lift weights, though still loves a day on the sofa binge-watching absolutely anything (good).