Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

Growing up in New Orleans, I always looked forward to turkey gumbo made from the leftovers from our family Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. I have fond memories of both of my parents cooking together and of the wonderful aromas that filled up the house. They never cooked with a written recipe. My dad’s mom was from St. Landry Parish and my mom’s people were from Evangeline Parish, so they both followed the grand Cajun style in the kitchen (as opposed to Creole) that was handed down to them through the generations. And I learned from watching them.

NOTE: If you happen to have leftover turkey from a holiday meal, that is ideal and authentic. You can make your stock from the bones and carcass. But because my own family is small and we don’t usually cook a whole turkey on holidays, there aren’t enough leftovers from our holiday meals to make a gumbo. This is one of the reasons why I crafted this recipe around using a roasted chicken from a grocery store. Another reason is because since I like to make gumbo year-round, I don’t need to have to wait for a holiday season to come along. And lastly, a grocery store roasted chicken tastes great and saves me time.

INGREDIENTS

1 roasted chicken

2 quarts of water

1 cup of white flour (for your roux)

1 cup of olive oil (for your roux)

12 oz of smoked beef sausage

2 tbsp of olive oil (for your sausage and vegetables)

1 large brown onion

12 cloves of garlic

1 stalk of celery

1 green bell pepper

12 bay leaves

1 tbsp of crushed oregano

1 tbsp of sage

1 tbsp of file’ (make sure it’s ground sassafras leaves)

1 pinch of cayenne

1 tsp black pepper

Salt (to taste)

4 cups raw rice

French bread and butter

Tabasco

Separate the chicken meat from bones and set the meat aside. In a large stock pot, boil the bones in 2 (two) quarts of water for 1 (one) hour. Then, remove all of the bones and you will have your chicken stock. To make the roux: toast the flour in a dry skillet over a very low heat, stirring constantly until light brown. Once the dry flour is toasted, mix in 1 (one) cup of olive oil until the roux has a syrupy consistency. It will have a nice caramel brown color. Then mix in 1 (one) cup cold water into the roux. Slowly and slowly mix the roux into your stock, little by little, while it is simmering. Add the bay leaves.

Slice the sausage into thin medallion shaped pieces and sauté them in 2 (two) tablespoons of olive oil until brown. Then remove from sausage slices from the skillet and set them on paper towels to drain. In the sausage drippings oil that are still in the skillet, sauté the onion, bell pepper, celery, and pressed garlic until browned. Add mixture and the sausage to the simmering stock. Add the oregano, sage, cayenne, black pepper, cayenne, file’ and salt. Let it simmer for a good 2 (two) hours. Make your steamed rice. Lastly, add your chicken meat and let the whole thing simmer for 30 (thirty) more minutes. Then turn off the heat, cover, and let the gumbo rest for another 30 (thirty) minutes before serving.

Use soup bowls to serve. First, put a generous spoon of steamed rice in the bowl, then ladle your gumbo over it, smothering the rice. Enjoy with buttered French bread slices on the side. You can add salt, file’ and Tabasco to taste.

Serves 8 (eight)