My chicken & sausage gumbo

Since my sis was asking for it, I figured I would try to write it out here!

I cannot believe its been 2 years since I have posted. WOW. Hoping to revive this little food blog since I am loving to cook nowadays being down in New Orleans.

Basically, since we have moved to NOLA, I have been making a gumbo a week mainly b/c we love em and also bc Jasper will eat it & the baby too is getting into gumbo lovin'.

I started out making Paul Prudhomme's seafood gumbo (super tasty but Tallulah can't have shellfish or seafood yet so its chicken and sausage these days). I really like his seasoning mix + his way of making roux via high heat quickly is really easy I think. I have latched onto and kept those elements.

Each time I make it, its a little bit different and especially for Jasper's birthday, I made enough for 25 people so that was a challenge.

This is my "recipe" of sorts which I can now make w/o looking at anything written down.It is always better on day 2 or 3 and beyond if there is any left!

You will need:

a deep pot or dutch oven (we use our red enameled dutch oven)

a large cast iron or otherwise frying pan

a wire whisk

a long wooden spoon

cooling plate for chicken

mesh strainer to catch chicken pieces

a ladle to scoop out the goodness

Ingredients:(to make 8 servings)

cut up chicken thighs & drumettes with skin on the bone preferably (3 pounds is nice and meaty & I use thighs b/c it gives off good fat to make roux!)

1 pound of good smoked andouille or hot sausage (locally we prefer Veron's from laPlace)

1 smoked ham shank

8 cups worth of nice chicken stock (stock not broth)

 

Seasoning Mix:

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cayenne, 1/2 tsp white pepper, 1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp smoked paprika

1/4 tsp chipotle pepper

(last two are my latest tweaks and not classic by any means- we like em tho)

2-3 bay leaves

The Holy Trinity (2 cups onion diced, 2 cups green pepper diced, 1 3/4 cups celery diced)

1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic

2 cups worth of okra (we are not huge okra fans so this is optional- can use frozen too)

3/4 C vegetable oil ( only add to the chicken pan drippings what you "eyeball" to look like 3/4 C in total. Meaning you are building in the fry pan and adding veg oil if you need to to make roux)

3/4 C flour

Okay, first I pour the stock into the dutch oven and get it to boiling with the ham shank in there.

Next, I get the chicken pieces all salted and peppered with freshly ground black pepper.

Place chicken into fry pan and get all sides of it nice & browned up. Takes about 10 min. and if you have a lot of chicken and pan is smallish, do in batches.

If the skin sticks to pan, that is good for roux scrapings.

Remove chicken to plate.

Have all your veggies chopped up and ready & your seasoning mix all together in a bowl.

Its roux-time!

Keep burner on fry pan on the high side and eyeball to see if you need to add veg oil to the pan to make it about 3/4 C in total.

Slowly add in flour, one tablespoon at a time, whisking it in and scraping up the good chickeny bits.

Keep whisking and whisking until roux is a good deep red-brown. Take it as dark as you can w/o burning. It will smell kinda nutty and should take you 5 minutes average.

Then keeping burners high, add in half of the veg mix (if frozen, add okra later to dutch oven). Stir well for a few minutes then add in other half and stir for few minutes.

Add in seasoning mix and stir for a minute.

Add in minced garlic then begin transferring roux to stock one wooden spoonful at a time and dispersing well.

Add the chopped up sausage (remove casing and chop into nice bite-size pieces. I like em to be a 1/4 of the round circles) to the stock.

Get stock to boil then drop burners down to low simmer.

Add in chicken pieces on the bone so all the nice flavors can soak in but remove skins if any are left.

Add in frozen okra now too.

Simmer mix until chicken is well cooked and falling from bone. Usually around 20-30 min. minimum stirring occasionally and skimming fat from the surface with a big flat-ish spoon.

Now pull out using a scoop or mesh strainer, the chicken pieces and the ham shank.

Let them cool a bit. You can place them in the freezer for a few minutes to hasten the process.

Now pull all the meat from the bone. Cut the ham shank's meat up into bite-size nuggets of goodness.

Add it all back into the pot. Skim top with spoon if needed.

Serve over scoop of hot rice.

Can garnish with minced fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley if desired.

Leave out file powder & Tabasco sauce on the table for extra thickening and spiciness.

If you have potato salad, add a dollop to your bowl.Very New Orleans and very tasty though weird it may sound! My photo above has a scoop in there. I will take some pictures this week of what my roux looks like when I am making it and some examples of what a nice deep stock should look like. In my picture above, it really looks lighter due to potato salad.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[David, Original Brat Hans]

Welcome back to posting, and a great recipe to start!!! Might I suggest another sausage to use - Original Brat Hans. They are all natural, no preservatives, antibiotics or added hormones! Since you were buying locally I figured all-natural was important to you. I'm looking forward to future posts!

[Amy (Minimally Invasive)]

UNCLE! I give. You've inspired me to finally figure out how to make a gluten-free dark roux! This looks so delicious, I can practically taste it. Have you tried duck yet? Supposed to be great.

[serena]

So happy to see you posting again!!! Im trying your gumbo next, it looks great!!!!

[Orchide]

David, thanks for reading & one day would love to try your sausage. Is there an andouille? I would definitely give it a review here if I had some:) although brat isn't really right for a gumbo.. I would prefer a more natural sausage and love to steer clear of nitrates which admittedly Veron's does contain. It is a nice family business here and they don't use corn syrup etc. which other brands do. Every single local maker's smoked andouille sausage does unless someone here in NOLA can tell me otherwise. Just have to shop practically when you have 2 babes and are making gumbo as much as I do. We figure anyone's gumbo here locally is going to have nitrates and our kids don't eat the sausage bits anyhow. I will keep eye peeled for options here in NO.

Serena, this wasn't the best photo I had but it worked ok for right then. I will also make a green gumbo post since that gumbo was sorta mind-blowing for Matt & I.

Amy, give Bob's Red Mill GF flour a go & let me know how it comes out. I have heard good things.
Also, my good friend Sara Roahen just had her cookbook come out. I will have to make a post here about it. It's the Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook w forward by Alton Brown. There is a very tempting recipe within for a duck gumbo. Now you just know I have to make it!
VZB

[Pam Hurley]

I just found your blog today and I'm going to try the petrale sole and gumbo receipe. Both sound GREAT. Can't wait to try some more of your receipes.

[rc helicopter]

Impressive blog! -Arron