Gumbo

[Mike]

It's been cold all week, and that means soups, stews, and gumbo! So, tonight, I'm making a pot of gumbo for supper and I thought, since it does include several home-grown veggies (the onion, bell peppers, and okra), this might be a good recipe to share with all y'all here.

I like to use as much as I can out of the garden for this. We can't grow celery around here (well, maybe we can and I just don't know that yet), but I do use the onions, bell peppers, and okra out of the garden when we have some put up.

Also, for the sausage, any ol' smoked sausage will do. If you have deer sausage put up, I'm sure that'd be awesome in this! I like to use andouille just because it's one of my favorite sausages, for anything but, especially for cajun-style recipes.

For the chicken, I throw my thighs into the pan and sear them on both sides then chop them up in the pan. You can just cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces before you add it to the pan too if you prefer to do that. For me it's just easier to chop it up as it's cooking.

Ingredients​

• 1 package andouille sausage (cut into bite-sized pieces)
• 4 chicken thighs (boneless, skinless)
• cajun seasoning, to taste (I use Slap ya Mama seasoning)
• 1 large white onion
• 3 celery stalks
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 2 Tbsp garlic (minced)
• 2 handfuls okra (cut into small pieces)
• 3/4 stick butter
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 Tbsp olive oil (or whatever oil you like to cook with)
• 1 1/2 cartons chicken broth or stock

Directions​

1. Heat the oil over a medium heat, in a large pot or dutch oven. I use a cast-iron dutch oven for this.
2. Add the sausage and cook until browned. Remove it from the pan.
3. Add the chicken thighs into the pan, season well with your cajun seasoning, and cook for a few minutes on each side (just to get some color). Once the outside is done, chop the chicken up into smaller pieces in the pan. Once the chicken is completely cooked through, remove the chicken from the pan.
4. Add the butter to the pan and fully melt. Next add in your flour and make a roux. How much flour you need here will depend on how much oil is left in your pan from the sausage and chicken. Could be 1 cup, could be more. Typically, I end up adding a little more than a cup, but I've added up to a cup and a half before. You just want a thick brown roux when you're done here.
5. Once your roux is nice and brown, add in the onions, celery, and bell peppers. Season the veggies up with some more of that cajun seasoning and cook until onions and celery are starting to soften.
6. Add the sausage and chicken back into the pot. Don't leave out any drippings that are in the bowl you held 'em in.
7. Add the garlic in the pot and cook just a few minutes.
8. Add in 1 carton of chicken broth and bring it to a boil.
9. Add in the okra and bring it back to a boil.
10. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and continue to cook for about an hour.
11. You'll want to keep an eye on it after this point and continue adding more chicken broth to get the consistency that you like. We typically add at least another half a carton but it wouldn't hurt it a bit to add the whole thing.

Got this on the stove as I type this up so it's almost time to eat! We're gonna serve this over rice. I can't wait!

 

[Mike]

This picture doesn't really do it justice but this is a dang good recipe y'all! If you like gumbo, and don't already have a recipe you're stuck to, give it a go!

 

[Meadowlark]

Looks great! I love to eat it but not so much on making it.

 

[Mike]

The number of steps here makes it seem like a lot, but it's really super simple. I think the biggest pain for me is cutting up the veggies and sausage. Once that's all done, it's just a matter of adding things into the pot at the right times then letting it simmer long enough for all the flavors to meld together.

On a cold day, like yesterday was, you can't hardly beat it! It was delicious!