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Sugar Pie's Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

½ cup A/P flour

½ cup veg. oil

1 whole cut up chicken, breasts cut in half, or 8 of your favorite chicken parts

2 cups chopped onion (about 2 small)

2 cups chopped celery (about 5 ribs)

¼ of a bellpepper, chopped (I like red for color, & less bitter than green)

5-6 garlic cloves, sliced

1 lb. smoked sausage or andouille (AHN-dewey), sliced

1 (14 oz.) can petite diced tomatoes, w/ juice

8 cups chicken stock

2 bay leaves

2 Tbsp. Tony Chachere’s (less if chicken stock is salty)

Salt and Black pepper to taste

Handful of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

For Seafood Gumbo:

omit chicken

2 lbs. peeled, raw shrimp

1 lb. crabmeat (optional)

½ tsp. Zatarain’s crab boil liquid seasoning

1. Start by making a roux. In a big, heavy Dutch oven, add flour and oil to pot and set over medium heat. With a flat-bottomed spoon, stir roux, scraping the bottom clean with eat motion. Slowly, the flour will begin to darken. You can smell it caramelizing. Slowly take it to the color of milk chocolate for best flavor, or at least dark caramel. Stir almost constantly or it will burn, especially once the darkening has begun.

2. When your roux reaches the right color, add chicken pieces skin side down. Turn heat up to med-high or even high, depending upon your stove. The goal right now is to brown the chicken well, not cook them through. If they will not all easily fit in the bottom of the Dutch oven, brown them in 2 batches. Remove browned chicken to plate; set aside.

3. Add sliced sausage or andouille to pot, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Remove to plate w/ chicken.

4. Add onions, celery, and bellpepper to the roux. Stir well to coat, and cook about 3-5 minutes until wilted. Add garlic, and cook 2-3 minutes more.

5. Return chicken and sausage to pot, and add tomatoes, chicken stock, bay leaves, Tony Chachere’s, and any additional salt or pepper to suit your taste.

6. Bring pot of gumbo to a simmer over high heat, then cover w/ lid and reduce heat to low. Stir occasionally and simmer about an hour. Remove lid and stir; simmer another 15 minutes. Stir in chopped parsley just before serving.

7. To serve, place steamed rice in the bottom of a bowl, and top with a chicken piece and sausage slices and gumbo liquid as desired.

NOTES:

** To make Seafood Gumbo, brown sausage or andouille first, then add veggies to the pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, stock, bay leaves, Tony Chachere’s, S&P to taste, and liquid crab boil. Do not add shrimp until last 5 minutes of cooking; the heat of the gumbo will cook the shrimp. Add parsley and crab, if so desired, and serve. (Crab is precooked, so it only needs to be warmed up in the gumbo seconds before serving.)

** If the roux burns (you can smell a scorch and it has black flecks in it), throw it out, wash your pot, and start over on a lower heat setting. Keep stirring; most roux is ruined by walking away.

** If you are coordinated, you can chop your meat and veggies stove-side while stirring your roux. If not, chop before you begin your roux to give it your full attention.

--me!

Gumbo

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 onion, chopped

1 large green bell pepper, diced

1 stalk celery, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 14-ounce can whole tomatoes, drained and chopped

10 okra pods, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch-long pieces (1 cup)

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup long-grain white rice

6 ounces medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

4 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, or thigh meat, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 ounces andouille or kielbasa sausage, thinly sliced

Salt, to taste

Hot sauce, to taste

PREPARATION

Heat a heavy cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the flour turns a deep golden color, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer the flour to a plate and let cool. (There will be a strong aroma similar to burnt toast. Be careful not to let the flour burn; reduce the heat if flour seems to be browning too quickly.) Alternately, toast the flour in a pie plate in a 400°F oven for 20 minutes.

Heat oil in a heavy stockpot over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic; sauté until the onions are lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Stir in the toasted flour. Gradually stir in broth and bring to a simmer, stirring. Add tomatoes, okra, pepper, thyme, oregano, cayenne and bay leaf. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Stir in rice and cook, covered, for 15 minutes longer.

Add shrimp, chicken and sausage; simmer until the shrimp is opaque inside, the chicken is no longer pink and the rice is tender, about 5 minutes longer. Discard the bay leaf and season with salt. Ladle into bowls and serve with hot sauce.