After living in Louisiana for more than 15 years, the legendary Cajun country food has deeply embedded its flavors in our family’s hearts. Many delicious recipes have made their way to the table and some of the dishes that come to mind as crops come to mind when the temperatures dip and the leaves begin to fall.
Many restaurants have added gumbo to their menu, which is very unfortunate, as they mostly misrepresent what “real” gumbo tastes like. If you’ve been subjected to tomato gumbo at a local diner, you’ve turned your nose up and cried, “What’s the big deal about this dish called gumbo?”
A great tasting gumbo starts with the best roux, typically made from 1 cup of flour to 1 cup of oil (one cup of oil can measure more than 1900 calories and more than 200 grams of fat). Most health conscious individuals agree that it is a lot of fat.
So can we simply give up gumbo? It won’t be necessary if you follow the simple steps that follow:
1 cup sprinkled
Organic Chicken Broth
3 large onions
2 bell peppers
3-4 stalks of celery (tops included)
Minced garlic
2-4 big exos movie beautiful
Seasonings: salt, black pepper, Tony Chachere sauce, bay leaf, oregano, thyme, red pepper, hot sauce
Brown Rice
Green onion
Use a cast iron skillet or a non-stick skillet and place 1 cup of flour over medium to medium-high heat. Do not leave unaccompanied. Like any good roux, it must be stirred constantly. The flour is generally stiffer, and this is where most of your flavor will come from. Don’t be impatient. Stir patiently until your dough has turned a nice deep brown.
Remove the pot from the heat and slowly broth, (buy low sodium in the box). If you add the liquid too quickly, the batter will splatter out of the pan, if you add it too slowly, the mixture will thicken too quickly and leave you with a possible batter. We will use the right chicken because we will lack the flavor of our chicken usually cooked with bones and skins. I transfer my mixture to the dutch oven here to take place of the tank.
There are three essential ingredients in gumbo. Onion, celery and green bell pepper. We usually use 2-3 large onions, 2 small bell peppers and 3-4 chopped stalks of celery. Pour these into your roux and keep the heat on medium low while you shred the chicken breast. I like the brisket cut into bite-sized pieces. Add the meat and 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, or you can press your own.
I love seasoning, my gumbo has salt, black pepper, Tony Chacheres sauce (www.tonychachere.com), bay leaf, oregano, thyme, red pepper, hot sauce. Seasoning is personal, start with a teaspoon of each and add more to taste.
Allow the mixture to simmer for an hour or two, or until the chicken is tender.
Now we serve our gumbo over brown rice. To save time, cook large batches of brown rice at one time and freeze in one-cup portioned baggies. Bags store in a large Ziploc (www.ziploc.com) bag. It is easily contained.
Ladle the gumbo over the rice, and add the chopped green onions for garnish. Sprinkle with parsley for added flavor before serving.
