I would like a recipe for either chocolate or maple fudge BUT I would like it to be a little bit hard when ready. Not the soft creamy type. If anyone knows a recipe please post. Thanks

Here is a recipe that I use often for Chicken Jambalya. Enjoy the history too! 1978 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CHICKEN JAMBALAYA Here's an award-winning recipe (along with some tips and some history of the dish) as prepared by: Matthew "Dee" Gautreau, Dee Gautreau's Cajun Catering, Gonzales, Louisiana 70737 This makes damn good jambalaya, and is a brown-style rather than the red tomato-based jambalayas you see in New Orleans (like mine, for instance). This one doesn't use a chicken stock because you make your own as you go along here. One 3 to 4 pound hen cut into serving pieces 3 cups long grain rice - uncooked 1/4 cup cooking oil 3 medium white onions - chopped fine 6 cups water (but Chuck says use chicken stock if you want it to be really good) 1 tablespoon salt, or to taste 2-1/2 teaspoons granulated garlic (I used fresh) 1 cup green onions - chopped 1/2 cup green peppers 1/2 cup celery - chopped fine 1/4 teaspoon black pepper Red pepper to taste 2 tablespoons Louisiana hot sauce Fry chicken in cooking oil until golden brown. Remove chicken and oil leaving just enough oil to cover bottom of pot. Add onions, and fry until golden brown. Put chicken back into pot with onions, and add 6 cups of water (note water level). Add remaining seasoning and simmer covered until chicken is tender. If necessary, add enough water to bring back to previous level. Bring back to a rolling boil, and add rice. Simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes - turn rice. Cover with tight fitting lid, let steam for 15 minutes, or until rice is tender. Turn rice once more, and turn fire off. Let stand for 10 minutes and then serve. Jambalaya is more tasty if highly seasoned, so don't forget the red pepper. When adding salt, water should taste a little too salty, as rice absorbs considerable salt. Yield: 6 to 8 generous servings. HELPFUL HINTS FOR INEXPERIENCED JAMBALAYA COOKS: Most jambalaya cooks prefer to cook in cast iron pots - whether cast iron or aluminum pot is used, it should be heavy enough to prevent easy burning, and have a tight lid. To brown onions: Onions and shortening are put into the pot, covered, and cooked over low heat until golden brown, stirring frequently. A little water added to the onions will help prevent sticking. Jambalaya should never be stirred - turn rather than stir after the rice has been added. This prevents the grains of rice from breaking up. Most cooks turn jambalaya only two or three times after the rice is added, being sure to scoop from the bottom of the pot to mix rice evenly with other ingredients. A LITTLE JAMBALAYA HISTORY Similar in many ways to Spanish paella, the term "jambalaya" is derived from the Spanish jam for ham. Jambalaya found its way into Creole cookery in the late 1700's where it soon took on the flavor of added local ingredients. It can be made (separately or all together) with ham, chicken, sausage, fresh pork, shrimp and oysters, to which is added shortening, rice, onion, garlic, pepper and other seasonings. Starting with church fairs, which were the largest public gatherings at the turn of the century, Jambalaya emerged from small quantity indoor cooking to become the ideal dish for outdoor cooking over hardwood fire. Big black cast iron pots made preparation so easy and economical for church use that Jambalaya was rapidly adapted for political rallies, weddings, family reunions and other affairs. No fair or political rally around Gonzales is complete without Jambalaya cooking. The Jambalaya Festival and World Champion Jambalaya Cooking contest is held annually at Gonzales and attracts area cooks who have spent years perfecting the are of cooking and seasoning this Creole delicacy. Gonzales really is the Jambalaya Capital of The World. About the creator of the championship recipe: "Dee" Gautreau is a World Champion Jambalaya cook; he won the title in 1978. He has his own catering business, "Dee Gautreau's Cajun Catering." In the past nine years he has cooked Jambalaya all over the United States and in France, too.

Nina and Ann, thank you! Nina, I am going to make that Jambalaya for the next more casual dinner I host. Sounds delish. Ann, your recipe looks incredible too. I couldn't find it in your pdf book though. I want to try it, but it seems expensive on my reduced budget with lobster. I guess I could omit that. What do you think of this recipe I just found on a website selling Paella pans (which I don't have, unfortunately)? It seems to be lacking without any chicken or chorizo. And I'm sure I'd have triple it at the least. I will probably cook whatever recipe I end up choosing in my Calphalon 7 qt pot...that has a large enough bottom that it might work - it's 11" diameter. Or would my 12" Calphalon wok be better? Seafood Paella Serves four (ideal for a 13- or 14-inch paella pan). This paella is good when served with lemon wedges, but it's even better when spread with a bit of alioli, a garlic mayonnaise that is the Spanish version of the French aioli. To make alioli, add a few cloves of chopped garlic and a large pinch of salt to a mini-food processor (or a mortar), process (or pound with a pestle) until very fine, and then slowly drizzle in olive oil to make a thick, mayonnaise-like consistency. Add lemon juice to taste, and process again. 1/3 lb. shrimp, peeled (reserve the shells for broth) Pinch of saffron threads Salt to taste 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1/3 lb. scallops (or calamari, cut in rings) 1/2 onion, grated on the largest holes of a box grater 6 garlic cloves, peeled 1 ripe tomato, halved and grated on the largest holes of a box grater (discard the skin) 1 1/2 cups medium grain rice 8 small mussels or clams (1/2 lb.), scrubbed 1 lemon, cut in wedges for garnish In a medium saucepan, boil 3 1/2 cups of salted water. Add the shrimp shells and simmer, covered, for about 10 min. Strain the broth, and return it to the saucepan. Toast the saffron gently (in a dry skillet or toaster oven), crush the threads with the back of a spoon, and add to the shrimp shell broth. Taste for salt; the broth should be well-seasoned. In a 14-inch paella pan, heat the oil on high. Meanwhile, pat dry the shrimp and scallops (or calamari). When the oil is hot, sauté the shrimp and scallops until almost cooked through, about 2 min. Transfer to a plate and set aside. Pour out all but 1 Tbs. of oil from the pan. Reduce the heat to medium and sauté the onion and garlic until the onion softens, about 5 min. Add the tomato, season with salt, and sauté until the mixture, called the sofrito, has darkened and is a thick purée, 10 to 15 min. Meanwhile, bring the shrimp shell broth back to a simmer. When the tomato-onion sofrito is ready, add the rice to the pan. Sauté until the rice loses its opaqueness, about 1 min. Increase the heat to medium-high. Pour in 3 cups of the simmering broth (reserving the remaining 1/2 cup) and stir or shake the pan to evenly distribute the rice in the pan. As the liquid comes to a boil, arrange the mussels or clams in the pan, submerging them as much as possible below the level of the liquid. From this point on, do not stir the rice. Cook the paella on medium-high, rotating and moving the pan over one or two burners to distribute the heat. When the rice begins to appear above the liquid, after 8 to 10 min., reduce the heat to medium low. Continue to simmer, rotating the pan as necessary, until the liquid has been absorbed, about 10 min. more. Taste a grain of rice just below the top layer; it should be al dente. (If the rice is not done but all the liquid has been absorbed, sprinkle a bit of hot broth to the pan and cook a few minutes more.) Arrange the shrimp and scallops (or calamari) in the pan. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and cook gently for another 2 min. to help ensure that the top layer of rice is evenly cooked. With the foil still in place, increase the heat to medium-high and, rotating the pan, cook for about 2 min., until the bottom layer of rice starts to caramelize, creating the socarrat. The rice may crackle somewhat, but if it starts burning, remove the pan from the heat immediately. Let the paella rest off the heat, still covered, for 5 min. Sit everyone down at a round or square table. Remove the foil and invite people to eat directly from the pan, starting at the perimeter, working toward the center, and squeezing lemon over their section, if they want.

Jambalaya isn't really that complicated if you don't want it to be. What kinds of shortcuts are you willing to take? How do you want it to be, authentic? Then 45 min is probably not possible. Similar in concept? That can be done. Then, do you like a red jamb or a brown one. (The old creole vs cajun argument) An older cajun lady taught me a few things about jambalaya. According to her and her cajun roots, many dishes claiming to be jambalaya aren't. (Ah, but so many things are variants aren't they?) FWIW, according to her, from its inception you must have ham in jambalaya to be real jambalaya. Well, that's fine with me. Her favorite was chicken and 2 or more kinds of sausage (ham is a given). I always add bacon. She said to me what I thought all along, that putting shrimp in is a tough thing to do right and eliminates leftovers. Dump it all when done since shrimp will be rubber if you warm it up again. She also did a combination or sort of a hybrid of dirty rice and jambalaya and they're so close it only makes sense. Her method used a darker roux but to do the roux for it, you'll hardly get the roux done in 45 min. Here's some ways to cheat and speed things up: -Meats can be cooked ahead of time to save time. -Pick up some rotisserie chicken from the store -Get ham from a good butcher shop or deli -Leftover turkey (or ham) works well as a substitution or addition to the chicken -Although chopping the veggies isn't terribly time consuming, you can buy frozen "seasoning blend" for the trinity. -Jar garlic -At least use decent stock or get some decent chicken base instead of the salt tablets called "bouillon cubes" -Instant rice? Doesn't take that long to cook the rice though -Instead of cooking the rice in the dish, which does taste better, cook it separately (in some stock and butter) then add when cooked. -Beer adds a nice flavor, as does some BBQ sauce or steak sauce -Pulled pork (or shredded beef) goes well in it too. -Jambalaya can be very mild or very hot, but you make it however you like. None of the standard ingredients are hot by nature. Use seasonings you like, Tabasco or Louisiana Hot Sauce, peppers, pepper flakes Here's the recipe I used as a base (along with Justin's): 2 Tablespoons olive oil 1 Tablespoon butter 1/2 pound smoked sausage 1/3 pound ham 1/4 pound spanish chorizo 1/4 cup celery 1 cup onion 1/2 cup red bell pepper 1/2 cup yellow bell pepper 1/2 cup green bell pepper 2 bay leaves 2 jalapenos 3 cloves garlic 1 teaspoon kosher salt (see note) 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1 teaspoon paprika 3 ounces tomato paste OR 3 small tomatoes chopped 3 and 1/2 cups chicken broth 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce 1 cup long grain rice 1 pound shrimp/prawns 1/2 cup parsley juice for 1/2 lemon Notes from the recipe poster: ***Note, I used homemade chicken broth with no salt in it. If you use store bought chicken broth, I would probably not add any salt at all. I would also recommend to only use 1/2 the can of tomato paste. Here's a fairly nice, pretty basic & simple version too. You won't do this in an hour though without some shortcuts, like precooking the chicken or using ready-cooked. Cajun Jambalaya 1 whole fresh Chicken cut up (boiled for 1 hour and then the meat pulled from the bones) 1 pound Smoked Sausage (1/4 in. slices) 4 cups Long Grain White Rice 7 cups chicken stock 1 12 ounce package Seasoning Blend (or Cajun Trinity) Sea Salt Tony’s Creole Seasoning 1/2 bunch fresh Parsley 1 punch chopped Green Onions 1/8 cup Canola oil Begin by heating oil in a cast iron pot on medium heat. Brown Sausage until brown on both sides. Add in the Chicken and Seasoning Blend. Cook for 5-10 minutes. Pour in 7 cups Chicken stock and bring to a boil. Season with Sea Salt and Tony’s Creole Seasoning �" 1 teaspoon each. A little more if you like it spicy. Just be careful in case the sausage is already spicy. Add the Green Onions and Parsley. Let boil 10-15 minutes to develop flavor. Add in 4 cups Rice. Stir well to blend all ingredients. Cover tightly and reduce heat to low �" #2 or #3 on my stove. Cook for 15 minutes exactly. It is critical to not remove the lid until time. At the 15 minute mark, remove the lid and use a flat spatula to lift the rice off the bottom in a few spots. Be careful not to actually stir. Put the lid back on and cook another 15 minutes. Serve in a bowl garnished with chopped green onions and parsley. Often served with white beans and/or a mixed greens salad and hot rolls. And of course, Justin Wilson's recipe (not sure if it's exactly his or not but gives the basic ingredients) won't be done in an hour but some shortcuts could help out.