Gumbo...

I Made It up and Did it wrong... Don't Tell my Mom
We find ourselves in that part of the summer when the veggies have veggies and I start running out of ideas. Indian style curries are my default for using up all manner of vegetable - perfect for the summer - complex and spicy and packed with veggie goodness. This week I was thinking about doing another curry, but I remembered that we had plenty of sausage left over from Paella Night, so I shifted gears and proposed a gumbo...

Gumbo in August you say?? That's just insane! But really its not when you think about it. Its really just a curry...from a similar climate in another part of the world. You start with sweating out your aromatics, you add some spices, you add some tomato, you add some liquid and you simmer for a while. Then you add some thickening agents, some protein, some more spices and you let it all come together.

Poke around and you'll find lots of 'tropical' cultures that have a very traditional spicy stew in a rich glossy gravy over rice as a staple in their diet.

Yield: 6-8 servings
Time: less than 90 min

Ingredients:
1 large onion
1 large rib celery (I didn't have any celery, but seems like it should be in there)
1 large carrot (does not belong...but I had a lot of carrots)
1 large bell pepper (didn't really use this, but you're supposed to)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 t thyme
1-2 cups chopped mushrooms (this does not belong here...please don't tell my mom...)
0.5 - 1.0 lb sausage, sliced on the bias, about 0.5 inches thick, should be andouille, but i used chorizo...(and half of it was vegetarian...shhh)
1-2 cup okra, sliced about 0.5 inches thick
1 T tomato paste
1 14 oz can fire roasted chopped tomatoes (muir glen is my favorite)
1+ cup white wine
5+ cups chicken or veg stock LOW SODIUM, the other seasonings have a lot of salt (sub half with water if you don't have low sodium)
2 cups squash, diced (again...this soo does not belong, but it was good and I had to use it up!)
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs or cut of your choice about 1+ lbs
1 T butter
1+ T flour
2 t red pepper flakes
1 T oregano
1 bay leaf
1-3 T cajun seasoning (preferably Tony's, you can find it at most groceries)
1-3 T smoked Tabasco sauce
4 cups cooked (brown) rice

Method:

1. Get your rice going. Use brown, cook it properly - it'll wreck the dish if you mess it up. no pressure, but rice is an ancient and wonderful food that deserves proper cooking...I'm just sayin.
2. Lightly s&p your chicken - REALLY light with the salt, set aside on a plate
   
3. Heat 2 T oil over medium heat in a large heavy bottomed pot, sweat onion, carrot, celery and green pepper until beginning to soften. About 5 minutes.
4. Add mushrooms and thyme, sweat about 5 minutes more until mushrooms give up their liquid. You can add a pinch of salt here, but really no more.
5. Add okra and garlic and herbs, stir and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 3 minutes
6. Add tomato paste and cook while stirring to incorporate it, about 3-5 min
7. Add tomatoes and wine, cook a bit till the wine reduces by about half
   
8. Add some stock, pepper flakes, bay, pepper, tabasco, and Tony's, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer
9. Meanwhile, heat 1 T oil over medium heat in large saute pan, when shimmering, add sausage and render (melt out the fat, brown the meat a little). Remove the sausage to some paper towels to drain.
10. Add the chicken to the pan and render out what fat there is over medium low heat, do not brown the chicken, that will give it a funky texture in the gumbo. No need to cook the chicken through, just cook about 5 minutes on each side and remove to a plate to rest.
11. Scrape any brown bits out of the pan, toss them in the veggy pot.
12. Pop 2 cups of stock/water in the mic and warm.
    
13. Melt 1 T butter in the pan until the bubbling stops, turn the heat to low. Slowly sprinkle in the flour while whisking like crazy - weird stuff will happen, but keep whisking. Because you have more than 1 T of fat in the pan, you may need up to 2 T of flour, but go easy. You're looking for a sort of peanut butter texture. Cook that over low heat - stirring like a mad man
    until you get a light to medium brown color.
14. Slowly and carefully whisk in the warm broth. Continue whisking and cooking a bit more until thickened. Then slowly stir the flour mixture into the veggie pot.
    
15. Dice the chicken & add it and sausage to the pot, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook about 20 min.
    
16. The gumbo should be pretty thick at this point. Add the squash and cook about 7 minutes until the squash is just tender, this will add a lot of liquid to the pot.
17. Serve over perfect warm rice.