Making Louisiana gumbo is what’s cookin’ in the Places In The Home kitchen today.
“Cajun cuisine is a technique-driven cuisine, because
it’s a very humble style of cooking.
It’s about what can you do with humble ingredients
like onions, celery, bell peppers, oil, and flour.
How can you intensify flavors and create meals
that are satisfying and hearty and make you happy.”
—Frank Brigsten
Roux:
Ingredients
1 cup flour
1 cup vegetable oil
Directions
Heat oil in a black skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add flour in gradually, stirring well. Reduce heat to low.
Stir/whisk the mixture constantly until it reaches a rich brown color, approximately 30-40 minutes. You must stir/whisk constantly to prevent the roux from burning.
Black flakes indicate burned roux, and burned roux tastes horrible. If you burn it, throw it out and start over.
Start over?
Yes. Start over.
It’s worth it.
If making traditional roux from scratch is not for you Kary’s Roux in a jar has got your name written all over it.
Now, let’s gumbo!
Chicken and Sausage Gumbo
Ingredients
8 cups water
traditional roux; see recipe below (or 8 ounces of instant roux from jar)
3 chicken bouillon cubes
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
**Substitution: meat from cooked deli rotisserie chicken, shredded
12 ounce package smoked or andouille sausage
12 ounce bag frozen chopped onions
12 ounce bag frozen chopped bell peppers
1 bunch fresh chopped parsley, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 Tablespoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons celery seed
4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons fine black pepper or to taste
-OR-
in place of salt and pepper season with 1 Tablespoon Créole seasoning or to taste
1 cup white wine
cooked rice for serving
Directions
Roux
Heat oil in a black skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add flour in gradually, stirring well. Reduce heat to low. Stir/whisk the mixture constantly until it reaches a rich brown color, approximately 30-40 minutes. You must stir/whisk constantly to prevent the roux from burning.
Gumbo:
Slice smoked or andouille sausage into ½ inch pieces. Using a seasoned skillet for optimum taste results, cook the sliced sausage over medium-high heat until browned. Transfer cooked smoked or andouille sausage to plate lined with paper towels, allowing excess grease to drain. Set aside.
Place chicken breasts in gumbo or stock pot, add water, and bring to a boil. Add celery seed, 2 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. black pepper to season.
Stir and reduce heat to medium low; cook chicken breasts until done. Transfer chicken breasts from pot to large mixing bowl. Shred chicken breasts and return to pot.
Turn heat back to medium high. Add roux. Stir until roux dissolves. Reduce heat to medium; add minced garlic, chopped onions, bell pepper, celery, bay leaves, parsley, chicken bouillon cubes, remaining salt and black pepper (or Créole seasoning).
Carefully pour in white wine. Stir to blend and incorporate.
Reduce heat to simmer. Simmer uncovered for approximately 2 hours, allowing all flavors to marry. Remove bay leaves and skim any fat off top of gumbo.
Add chopped green onions and continue to simmer for additional 5 minutes.
Give gumbo a taste to see if you want to add more salt, pepper, garlic, Créole seasoning or chicken broth before serving.
Serving:
Serve gumbo over cooked rice.
Top with a sprinkle of ground filé, chopped green onions, and hot sauce to taste if desired.
Gumbo is delicious on the first day, and flavor filled filé fantastic the next day.
