Veggie Jumbalaya

Here is a tasty recipe for a kind of vegetarian variation on jumbalaya. Some credit for this one goes to my friend and fellow veggie Linda Thompson who shared the idea of this sort of dish with me last year. Served with fresh avocado, cilantro and crisp crostinis this dish is a great standby that you will love.

Ingredients:
2 Tbs olive oil
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 red onion, chopped (white will work just fine too)
2 links of vegetarian sausage, sliced (spicy kielbasa or chorizo style is very good)
4-5 cloves garlic, crushed

2 red, yellow or orange peppers, chopped (or 1 large one)
red chili flakes, to taste
1 cup of small dark greens (eg. broccolini leaves or collards chopped into little pieces)
2 cups (or 1 can) of red kidney beans (cooked)
1-2 cups of veggie broth

1 avocado,sliced
1/2 cup cilantro, in pieces

slices of stale bread (any kind of crusty loaf that is not sandwich bread will do, eg. sourdough baguette is a particularly good choice)
6 cloves garlic
olive oil

2 cups brown rice of your choice
approximately 4 cups of water or veggie broth

This one is really easy to make. For starters, get your rice cooking in whatever manner you prefer. I like to keep it simple and do roughly one part rice to two parts water/broth on the stove top-- get it boiling and then turn down and simmer until the rice is fully cooked, adding a little more moisture if needed. Once cooked, turn off heat and allow to sit with the lid on for 5 mins and then fluff with a fork.

Once the rice is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large heavy skillet and add the onions, celery, veg sausage and garlic. Stir to cook evenly, but not too much in order to let the onions and especially the sausages brown and carmelize a bit.

Once nicely browned, throw in the peppers and chili flakes and stir around some more for a minute or two. Then, add the beans, greens, and broth and mix thoroughly.

At this point, you can let it be for about 5-10 minutes until everything in the jumbalaya is fully cooked through. While this is cooking, you can get your crostini going.

Place your sliced bread onto a baking sheet (stoneware works best). Brush the slices with olive oil. Crush the garlic generously and spread a little on each slice. Put under a hot broiler until toasty brown, usually about 2-3 mins (careful not to burn!). To get it really toasty, flip the slices over to toast the other side.

Once everything is all done, throw some rice is a big bowl with a ladle full of jumbalaya, a few slices of avocado, some cilantro and a few crostini. Top it off with your favorite hot sauce and dig in.

This should make enough for two people to eat dinner and have some leftovers for lunch.

Enjoy!!