[CH] gumbo, baby...
Inagaddadavida (rael@ebicom.net)
Sun, 20 Sep 1998 14:02:57 -0500
Greetings O' Illustrious Chilehead brothers and sisters...blessings of El
Grande to all...
Had a lady at work gimme a 1/2 lb of fresh okra...not my favorite veggie,
but it do cry out to be put into some gumbo, so I obliged...
Wanted a simple gumbo...nothing too damned time consuming, complex...I like
sausage (if I didn't, I'd probably be vegetarian...I digress..) so I went
to Da Store and got me some decent smoked sausage (no andouille 'round
here...dammit..), picked up a bunch of parsley, glanced at the spot where
chiles lay - if ever available - and there was nothing to look at much less
spend my cash-ola on...luckily, Monk Rael has a freezer sheeeet-piled mit
chiles in various states...
This recipe is very bare-bones, very simple, took about an hour and a half,
most of that with the whole mess simmering. It can obviously (should, be
actually...that's what makes a great recipe...people adding their "special
touches" and such..) tweeked, played with, and so on. Great with chicken
added, shrimp would be groovy, most anything really, even catfish. Ya'll
know what yer doin'. Anywho...
----
The gumbo:
1/4 c. canola oil
2/4 c. flour
1 onion, chopped fairly small (quarter inch, for those who want 'zactness..)
1 bell pepper, chopped fairly small (used a yellow one 'cause I had
it...any do, o' course)
1/2 lb. (give or take) fresh okra, sliced into "rounds"
just a bit less than 1 lb. smoked sausage, cut into "half moons" (I always
save some sausage for my old man)
5 fresh (frozen) cayennes, stem cut off but left whole (told ya I was lazy...)
abt. 1 quart + 1 cup liquid
(used what I had on hand: 1 1/2 c. veggies stock/1 c. chicken stock/rest
was water)
(all stock, of some sort, is best, o' course)
approx. 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
approx. 1 (+) teaspoon gran. garlic
approx. 1 (+) teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
approx. 1/2 teaspoon brother Jim C's apple smoked habanero, ground
salt to taste
1/2 bu. fresh parsley, rough chopped
1/4 (+) teaspoon file powder
Make a roux with the flour/oil; brown is best, but I was impatient and made
a blonde one. Various methods, but I heat to oil to smoking, dump in the
flour with one hand, stir with the other, pulling it off the heat at
various times to insure you do NOT BURN IT (if you do...dump it...can't be
saved), and say little prayers the whole time that the cajun napalm don't
get me in the eyes...arms don't feel kaka anymore so I ain't worried about
them. None-o-the-less, always use caution when making a roux. It'll scar
you but good, baby...
Dump the veggies into the roux, cooking them for 5-10 minutes, stirring
frequently (may need to drop the heat to medium and/or take the pot off the
heat). Toss in the sausage and the dried seasonings; NOT THE FILE POWDER.
File goes in at the very end of cooking, OFF heat. Watch that hab powder
steam cloud...
Stir the above for another 5 minutes or so, keeping the heat at medium-ish.
Dump in about 1 cup of the liquid and stir, scraping the bottom of the pot
well. Good stuff down there...get it all. You can put in about 1/2 of
your parsley here now. Once it all looks fairly well mixed (gonna be
thick, mind you), add in the rest of the liquid, stir/mix well.
Bring to a nice mellow simmer and let it cook for a while. Taste
frequently, adding a bit of salt as you see fit, more chile, other
seasoning(s), whatever. You Da Boss. Adjust with more liquid as you see
fit. Should be almost sauce like, but a bit thinner...after all, it is a
soup...pretty much...
When you think it's done (flavor of sausage has developed, chiles, and
such...no flour taste...you'll pretty much know), take it off heat, dump in
the rest of the parsley and the file powder.
Put some rice in a bowl (which you should have cooked up whilst simmering
your gumbo...jeez, must I tell you everything?!) and a nice big ladle of
gumbo. Eat it up, yum...
Peace, Hendrix, and Chiles in my gumbo, baby...
Rael