It's that time of year. The grey and slushy and gross and dirty and COLD time of year. The beauty of Old Man Winter is wearing thin, and all of the winter white is starting to melt away just a little bit....just enough to make it uuuuuuugly out. And when this time of year rolls around, all I want to do is make soup. Soup gets a bad rap from the #haters of being a boring meal option, or "old person" food...but it can actually be a big bowl of comfort when the weather outside is frightful. Many cultures around the word have fantastic soups or stews that, when you eat it, you completely identify it with that particular culture. There's phò from Vietnam, Posolé from Mexico, Minestrone from Italy, and on and on the list goes....even regions of the US have their own soups and stews, including Louisiana.
On my bucket travel list, is New Orleans. It seems to be such a delicious melting pot....French, Creole, Spanish, and African roots meld with local ingredients like crawfish, oysters, and shrimp into amazing delectables such as po' boy sandos, jambalaya, and gumbo. Gumbo. I love a good bowl of gumbo (as I do all things soup/stew)....I think I would love it with seafood, but since my hubster is against all things seafood, I usually roll with chicken and Andouille.....it's suuuuper tasty. I love the creaminess of the roux-based broth and the spiciness from the blackening spices in the Andouille.
Andouille Sausage all seared up and delicious!
The roux is central and of the utmost importance when making a good gumbo. It is a mixture of flour and butter/fat, that is cooked down and stirred often over a medium heat, until it reaches a deep dark brown. It is the base for the whole dish. Es muy importante!.......so make sure that you can take the time to love it the way you should...it is worth it in the end!
The Holy Trinity is the base for most French Creole stews and dishes, and consists of bell pepper, celery, and onion. I also put in garlic, because HELLO it's garlic.
!Behold the Holy Trinity.
Gumbo Thangs:
4 cloves garlic (more or less, depending on personal taste), minced fine
half of 1 white onion, small dice
1 small green bell pepper, small dice
1 large stalk of celery, small dice
package of good Andouille sausage
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
1/4 cup of butter
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp flour
chicken stock, about 6 cups
Rice of choice, I use plain white rice
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp blackening seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
First, get a large wide pot nice and hot for searing the sausage off. Add sausage to pan and cook, stirring often to avoid too much sear (AKA burn). Once it is all seared off, remove from pot and set aside on a plate.
Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper, and cook in pot with renderings from sausage for 5-10 minutes on each side over medium-high heat, or as long as it takes to cook them just through, depending on size. Once cooked through, remove from pot and set aside.
In same pot, add about 2 tbsp of EVOO and bring up temp to medium. Add all your veg, except for garlic. Cook veggies just through (until onions are transparent) and add garlic. Cook for another couple minutes to take the raw taste off of the garlic. Remove from pot.
Put par cooked veggies, the sausage and chicken into refrigerator to completely cool...just because it takes awhile to get the roux perfect, and we don't want them to sit out on the counter the whole time at room temperature.
Add half a stick of buttuh into the same pot and melt down, then add all of the flour in and stir to incorporate them together. Continue to stir mixture every few minutes. Now....this step of making the roux is CRUCIAL to the right flavors and broth texture to develop in your gumbo. It took this batch around 65-70 minutes to toast it down and get it a nice and dark rich brown.
Once you've reached this medium to dark brown stage, you can add in the bay leaves, blackening seasoning, veggies and sausage, and all of the chicken stock. bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for at least an hour.
Cook rice according to package instructions, and rough chop chicken thighs, and add to gumbo. Continue to simmer for another 30 minutes to heat chicken all the way through.
Serve in a bowl with rice.....I like to top with sliced scallions, and a splash of Louisiana style hot sauce, such as Tabasco........and enjoy!
