Gumbo
 

It was freezing cold this weekend. I woke up on Saturday with a craving for gumbo. I ended up making a big 'ol pot of gumbo, with andouille sausage and chicken. Plenty of cayenne pepper to add the heat....and a perfect roux base with onions, celery and bell peppers.
Finished off with green onions and parsley.

I'm no longer cold!

Any other gumbo fans out there? Any tips?

Huge gumbo fan. I'm always looking for a new recipe for my slow cooker. Care to share? :D

Always make the roux from scratch, low and slow. Should take awhile ... think of it as a chance to "Zen Out".

File or okra?

Now you made me hungry for Cajun. :mad:

Definitely file. I can only stomach okra in my codfish bacala dish!

Ok...here you go.
You will need 1 1/2 cups each of diced onions, celery and 1 green bell pepper. 1 cup of vegetable oil. 1 cup of flour. About 4 links of andouille sausage, diced. About 5 skinless chicken thighs cut into 1 inch pieces. Green onion, parsley. 1 tsp of salt. 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper. 8 tsp of paprika, 6 tsp of garlic powder, 3 tsp of onion powder. 3 bay leaves. 6 cups of chicken broth. 1 tbsp of file powder.

Start by making the roux. In a pot, combine flour and vegetable oil. Stir over medium heat. Do not burn the roux!
You must constantly stir for 20 minutes. It should look like Mississippi mud when done.
Add onions. Sauté for 5 minutes. Add celery. Cook an additional 3 minutes. Add green pepper. Cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Add cayenne, salt, bay leaves and sausage. Stir and cook for 4 or 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and cook for an hour. Pop open a beer to enjoy, and give it a stir.
Combine the garlic, onion powder and paprika in a bowl. Tenderly rub those chicken thighs like your high school prom date. Throw them in the pot, and let the whole thing cook another 2 hours. Stir in green onions and file powder.

Spoon over some rice...sprinkle on some parsley.

Enjoy!

I *love* gumbo. My first time in New Orleans (happened to be Mardis Gras) I ate nothing else for 4 days. In retrospect, that might have been a bad idea.

For those of you on the other side of the pond, a friend of mine runs a new New Orleans restaurant called Tujacks in Shoreditch (with an authentic NOLA cocktail bar upstairs) which does excellent gumbo.

Thanks!

Good idea going with the phonetic spelling of Tujague's -- one of those NO names/words that is usually mispronounced.

When you make the roux start if off on the stove then put it in the oven at 325 (in an oven proof pan and don't grab the handles without mitt). Stir about every 10 minutes.

That way you don't burn the roux, you don't have to constantly stir, since it really takes about 45 minutes to make the roux properly (it is done when it is the color of a brown paper bag), this allows you to do other things for prep while the roux is baking (Ie chop the vegies for the base- clean shrimp etc,,,).

Thanks for the tip! I've never heard of this technique for roux making before. I will give it a shot on my next batch of gumbo.

:eek:

Any healthier substitute available?

I don't think that it will work well with olive oil. Perhaps a canola oil?

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05

Title: Dry Roux
Categories: D/g, Cajun
Yield: 1 servings

1 Information

The traditional roux is an important element of many Cajun and
Creole dishes. It is a mixture of half flour and half fat (oil or
butter) cooked to progressive degrees of color from blond to brown
depending on the richness and the "smokiness" of the flavor you are
trying to achieve, the brown being the richest. This typical
ingredient is a problem to low-fat, low-calorie, low-cholesterol
cookery because of its high oil content, but making a "roux" without
the oil is simple.

For use in Cajun dishes, gravies and as an all around
flavorful thickening agent.

Make several cups at a time and store in tightly closed jar
in refrigerator.

Method 1 (Stovetop):
Put 1 to 3 cups flour into heavy skillet and place over
moderate heat. The amount of flour depends only on size of
skillet and size of storage container you will use.

Stir the flour around often with a wooden spoon as it
cooks. Pay attention to the cooking because the flour will take a
few minutes (5 or so) to begin coloring. Stir constantly to keep
the flour in the bottom of the skillet moving so that it does not
burn. Continue until all the flour is desired color, probably
about like a light peanut butter color. The entire process takes
15 to 20 minutes to get enough rich dry roux to use for many
dishes. Most dishes will call for several tablespoons full.
Later -- when the dry roux is mixed with liquid, it will take on
a darker color.

Extracted from "Louisiana Light" by Roy F. Guste, Jr. 1990.

Method 2 (In the Oven):
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Put quantity of flour (3-4 cups is good) into a flat heavy pan
with sides.
Bake for about 1 hour, stirring well every 10-15 minutes, until the
flour begins to take on a light tan color. Later, when mixed with
liquids, it will take on the darker color that is normal for the
traditional roux made with oil or butter.

== Courtesy of Dale & Gail Shipp ==

MMMMM

so much more flavor than chicken breasts, I also like to add some shrimp & bit of shrimp/seafood stock if I have on hand.:Dterrific tip, I can't wait to try this.