A bowl of seafood gumbo and an Abita Amber, taken Christmas Day 2005

Here’s my gumbo recipe in five easy steps.  It is about as authentic as it comes, as I’ve taken ideas from many different people and made it simple.  The only hardware you will need to make this gumbo is a large stockpot with strainer basket, a cast iron pan (or Dutch oven) or heavy skillet  and a medium size pot to cook the rice.  For the novice, cooking gumbo can seem like a daunting task and even many Louisianans that cook this on a regular basis don’t go by a recipe; they’ve just learned to do it, as I have.  This is my best attempt to put together a methodology for an easy gumbo.  Though there are many different varieties, the chicken and sausage are common ingredients and easy to procure.  There isn’t a better dish to serve for Sunday football in the winter!

INGREDIENTS

for the gumbo:

• 2 pounds bone-in CHICKEN THIGHS
• 2 pounds Smoked SAUSAGE or Andouille
• 2 white ONIONS, chopped
• 1 green BELL PEPPER, diced
• 3 ribs CELERY, minced
• 1 bunch GREEN ONION
• 5 qts WATER (approx)
• BLACK PEPPER, SALT, CAYENNE, OREGANO, THYME and GARLIC POWDER, to taste
• 2 bay leaves
• Cooked Rice (3 cups uncooked)

for the roux:

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup white flour

METHOD

PREPARE YOUR TRINITY AND INGREDIENTS
Dice a white onion, three ribs of celery and one green bell pepper.  Slice the sausage at a bias.

MAKE THE STOCK/BROTH AND COOK THE CHICKEN (IN THE STOCKPOT)
Fill a large stock pot with strainer basket ¾ way with cold water.  Add a quartered white onion, some celery and season the water with salt, pepper, cayenne and a couple bay leaves.  Bring water to a boil and add chicken thighs.  Reduce temperature and let simmer for about a half an hour, until chicken is cooked and the water becomes a broth.  Pull out the strainer and pour the broth into a bowl for later.  When cooled, pull chicken from the bones, shred and reserve for later, discarding the bones.  The chicken will be added within the last hour of the cooking.

BROWN THE SAUSAGE AND MAKE A ROUX (in cast iron pot)
Meanwhile, heat a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven and brown your sausage to render the grease; then remove and reserve for later.  Add vegetable oil, then when heated, slowly add flower to make the roux.  Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to get the sausage pieces into the roux.

BRING IT ALL TOGETHER
Heat the stockpot and add butter.  When butter is melted, add the trinity (onion, bell pepper and celery) and sweat until soft, probably about 10-12 minutes.  With a large spoon, add your roux and mix it together with the trinity.  Continue to cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

Using a ladle, add chicken broth a little at a time and continue to stir to mix it with the roux and trinity.  Continue to add broth until you have a desired consistency and color.  The more broth added, the thinner the gumbo.

LET IT COOK!
Your gumbo can cook for as long as you want.  After a couple hours on a low simmer, you can add the sausage and the chicken back into the pot.  At this time, you’ll also want to taste it and add seasonings as necessary and toss in the green onions.

Make your rice and eat!

NOTES

• About a half hour before you are ready to serve your gumbo, begin preparing your rice.

Other Great Gumbo Links

Gumbo (Ya-Ya) eGullet Cookoff Thread – An interesting internet discussion by a bunch of people learning to make gumbo over the internet.  If you are starting from scratch and never had gumbo, you should begin here.

Although I sometimes make this dish with chicken, my favorite is with shrimp.  And since they were on sale yesterday at the local supermarket, I picked up about six ounces of shrimp for my dinner for less than three bucks.   With the addition of just a few more ingredients, the whole dish took me ten minutes to prep, ten minutes to cook and only cost around $3.50 for one serving.

To complement the spicy chili sauce, I paired the dish with a German Riesling, 2006 Petals.  The wine was a bit sweet for me to enjoy by itself, but putting it with the food was a match made in heaven.  Spicy pink shrimp, Thai chili sauce and a nice sweet wine sure did make for an enjoyable weekday evening.  Try it yourself!

Courtesy of Kevin Lacassin
www.NolaFoodie.com

Serves 2, Wine Pairing: Riesling

INGREDIENTS

• ½ lb. SHRIMP, peeled and de-veined
• 2 packages Ramen NOODLES
• 3 green ONIONS, chopped
• 2 SHALLOTS, minced
• 2 tablespoons Sambal CHILI PASTE (can use Sriracha)
• 2-3 tablespoons BUTTER
• dash of SOY SAUCE
• 2 tablespoons olive OIL
• dash of HOISIN SAUCE
• dash black PEPPER

METHOD

1.    Peel and de-vein shrimp, season with black pepper, soy sauce and Hoisin sauce.  Fill a two-quart saucepan with water and bring to a boil (to cook the noodles).

2.    Coat a large (12”) non-stick skillet with a bit of olive oil and sweat the shallots and half of the green onions for five minutes, until soft.  Add shrimp and cook on a medium heat for several minutes, until shrimp turn pink.

3.    Add two tablespoons of butter and the green onions to the skillet.  Cook for a minute or two until all of the butter is melted.  Add two tablespoons of Sambal chili sauce and stir thoroughly.  Continue to cook the sauce on low heat for several minutes.

4.    While the sauce is cooking, open two packages of Ramen noodles and discard the seasoning packet.  Cook according to instructions on the package (generally 3 minutes).

5.    Drain the noodles and add to the skillet; toss all ingredients together and serve in a bowl or small plate with chopsticks.  Garnish with green onion.

NOTES

• You will have to eyeball each of the liquid ingredients.
• The Sambal chili sauce is spicy! If the end result is too spicy, you can cut the heat with extra butter.

Feeds 4-6 as a meal or 10-12 as a party dish.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound smoked SAUSAGE, cut into cubes
• 1 pound boneless, skinless CHICKEN THIGHS
• 3 cups white RICE
• 2 slices BACON, chopped
• 2 medium yellow ONIONS, diced
• ½ green BELL PEPPER, diced
• 3 stalks CELERY, diced
• 4 green ONIONS, chopped
• 4 cloves GARLIC, minced
• 1 can (10 oz.) Rotel TOMATOES and chiles, drained
• 1 teaspoon Kitchen Bouquet
• 1 teaspoon each of SALT, BLACK PEPPER, CAYENNE, OREGANO and THYME
• 4 ½ cups CHICKEN STOCK (if homemade isn’t available, use Kitchen Basics)
• Cast iron DUTCH OVEN

METHOD

1.     Heat a large (5 ¼ quart or larger) cast iron Dutch oven and fry the bacon pieces to render the grease, remove and drain on paper towels.

2.     Brown the chicken in the bacon grease, remove and when cool, cut into strips.

3.     Brown the sausage for several minutes, then add the trinity of onion, celery and green pepper and cook until vegetables are soft, about 10 or 15 minutes on low heat.

4.     Add bacon, chicken, minced garlic, Rotel Tomatoes, Kitchen Bouquet, seasonings and rice, then stir all together.

5.     After rice is coated and mixed well, add the chicken stock.  Bring up to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer (low) and cover.  Set a kitchen timer and do not touch the lid for 20 minutes!  You will need to cook until the rice is soft and all liquid is absorbed.1.

6.     Lift the lid and confirm that rice is almost completely cooked and all liquid has been absorbed, then add the chopped green onion.  Fold in the onions to the mixture, turn off the burner and replace the lid and let it sit for another 10 minutes.

courtesy of Kevin and Ken Lacassin
www.NolaFoodie.com