I have a romanticized picture of New Orleans in my mind. Its “that place”. The place everyone has in the back of their mind where they fantasize escaping to and have their entire itinerary planned in the back of their mind.
I’m not sure if my vision of New Orleans came from studying the music of natives like Louis Armstrong, Al Hirt and Wynton Marsalis as a young trumpet player trying to perfect my sound.
Or maybe it came from watching the sights, sounds and plates of cuisine pass across my television set in north New Jersey.
Someday I’ll sit on the sidewalk outside of Cafe du Monde sipping on a cup of strong, chicory coffee as I devour a plate of beignets sitting under a mountain of powdered sugar and watch the crowds walk pass and listen to musicians serenade the streets. Not before I already ate my way through a Muffaletta sandwich and a fried oyster po’ boy…
Because I don’t have a private jet ready to whisk me away from my mid-term exams to this magical city of all things I love, I brought New Orleans to me with a simmering pot of Gumbo.
A brief history of Gumbo… Gumbo traces its origins to southern Louisiana in the 18th century and represents the relatively seamless (and by relatively seamless, I mean ‘kind of seamless, but not really seamless’) blending of cultures in the region at the time into one pot. Gumbo is characterized by a thick, robustly flavored stock, filled with meat or shellfish, a thickener base of okra or a French roux and the vegetable holy trinity native to Louisiana: celery, bell peppers and onions.
Although my recipe comes from Cook’s Country, whose test kitchens are located way up north in Vermont, it combines the best of Cajun and Creole style gumbo into a delicious pot of deep, dark and rich flavors.
Disclaimer: The method for cooking the roux in this recipe may seem slightly hair-brained, but it works. Often I come across recipe steps in America’s Test Kitchen/Cook’s Country recipes that I initially see as excessive, but the end products are always completely worth it– I have never had a bad recipe from them.
INGREDIENTS:
- 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 red/green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped
- 2 celery ribs, chopped fine
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (can use less if heat sensitive)
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 3 3/4 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- Salt and pepper
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into chunks
- 8 ounces andouille sausage, sliced thin on an angle (can use chicken andouille)
- 1 bag frozen okra (optional)
- 2 pounds shrimp, fresh or frozen, peeled and deveined
*recipe courtesy of The Complete Cook’s Country TV Show Cookbook (pages 50-51)
“Adjust rack to lowest position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Toast 3/4 cup flour in Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring constantly, until just beginning to brown, about 5 minutes.
Off heat, whisk in oil until smooth. Cover, transfer pot to oven and cook until mixture is deep brown and fragrant, about 45 minutes.
TIP: while the roux is cooking in the oven, chop all of your vegetables, prepare the chicken and begin to defrost the shrimp if using frozen.
You will panic and think that the roux is burnt when it comes out of the oven, but I promise that it is not, its flavor.
Transfer Dutch oven to stovetop and whisk cooked roux to combine. Add onion, bell pepper and celery and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until vegetables are softened, about 10 minutes.
You do not want to walk away from the roux and the vegetables, it will burn.
Stir in remaining flour, garlic, thyme and cayenne,and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add tomatoes and cook for another minute. Although the recipe calls for diced tomatoes, I only had crushed and the gumbo came out just as good.
Slowly whisk in fish sauce and broth to ensure that the roux is fully incorporated into the sauce.
Season chicken with pepper. Add chicken to vegetable mixture and bring to boil.
Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered until chicken is tender, about 10 minutes.
Stir in sausage and frozen okra and simmer until heated through, about 5 minutes.
Although the okra is an optional ingredient I feel it really ‘makes’ the gumbo and because we are using frozen okra its not slimy.
Add shrimp and simmer until cooked through, about 5 minutes. You can add in frozen shrimp (without thawing it), but plan on letting the shrimp cook for longer and raise flame to medium-high.
Season with salt and pepper and serve with a bowl full of white rice.
Eat, I'll Cut More 