Pastalaya tweaks

Instead of using pasta try rice.

Here's a St James Parish style pastalaya:

St James Parish Pastalaya

5 lb cubed pork (Boston butt or temple pork)
3 lb Veron's smoked sausage
1 lb Veron's andouille
5 lb coarsely chopped onions
1 bell pepper
3 stalks celery
5 cloves garlic
4 green onions
1/4 cup parsley
1 can original Rotel
1 can Campbell's Golden Mushroom Soup
1 can Campbell's Mushroom Gravy
1 can Dawn Fresh steak & mushroom gravy
5 lb Spaghetti
1 1/3 gal water

In a cast iron pot add 1/4 cup cooking oil on med. high fire. Add pork & cook until brown (do not remove from pot) then add sausage & cook until sausage has rendered its oil scraping the bottom at all times. Lower fire to med. Add onions cook until translucent then add bell pepper, celery, & andouille.....cook for 10 min. then add can goods, garlic (squeezed in a press), green onions. cook another 10 min.then add water, salt, black pepper, red pepper to taste & parsley.

Bring to a boil & add spaghetti (not too much at a time) stirring enough to keep from clumping. At a slow boil cook until spaghetti is still just a little chewy ...Turn fire off & cover for 20 min., remove lid, fold, taste & cover for 10 more min.

I've been trying different noodles each time. Penne is probably my favorite. I like how the sauce gets inside of the noodle so it has more flavor.

I also use pork butt, 2 different smoke sausages (Conecuh and Big Mikes/Verons), and chicken thighs.

Cream of chicken/celery/onion is a good addition.

Considering trying heavy cream. Otherwise my pastalaya is pretty much the same as jambalaya, but with pasta. Anyone try heavy cream?

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How many servings does this yield?

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About 28 2-cup servings.

If you have the Jambalaya Calculator, you can just plug in the amounts for rice (or pasta) and meat to calculate the servings. Use the "By Rice and Meat" tab.

Pastalaya doesn’t need tweaking. Keep it simple and cook it right to bring out the flavors of the veggies, sausage, meat, and seasoning. Stop trying too hard. Cook it right and it will be great.

I substitute 1/2 of the water with low sodium chicken broth. Gives it a little extra flavor.