Cajun Gumbo

So, this is a base you can use for a lot of things, Gumbo/Creoles, Curries, etc. However, this is the Cajun flavor of this!

Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients

Ingredients

1 lb of Chicken thighs (~4 pieces), bone in with or without skin

4-5 Cups of Stock (Seafood, Chicken, Veggie, whatever you want)

1/2 lb of Andouille Sausage, sliced into rounds

2 Cups diced Onion (1-2 large onions)

1 Cup diced Celery (About half of one stalk)

1 Cup diced Peppers (1 whole bell pepper, but feel free to substitute)

3 cloves of Garlic, Diced or Pressed (Optional)

1/4 cup Flour

2oz of Unsalted Butter (Half a stick)

Your favorite Cajun Seasoning Blend

Gumbo File (Optional)

1 14oz Can of diced tomatoes (Optional)

1 Cup diced Mushrooms (Optional) or any other proteins or veggies you like in it.

Specialized Equipment

Dutch Oven

Serving

White Rice

Gumbo File (Optional)

Hot Sauce (Optional)

I learned this recipe from a cooking school in New Orleans. That being said, if you look up any Thai curry recipes, you'll see a lot of similarities, just a difference in veggies, spices and blends and the like. Really all it comes down to is: Get some veggies and maybe some meat, cut them up small, get some stock, cook the veggies for a bit, then put in stock, and let cook for at least an hour. These are "Trash" dishes, where you can use it to get rid of all the random junk in your fridge or leftover from other stuff.

I like chicken thighs for this. However, you can use whatever you want, here. If you are adding any meat, make sure you cook it a bit before hand. I also use the leftover fat from cooking the chicken to add to the butter above for the Roux. If you want to add any seafood, I recommend just adding that in later.

For the Stock, just make it something that tastes good. I like using a mix seafood stock and veggie stock, but I have the bad habit of making and freezing tons of stock because I have a bunch of leftover stuff or I bought a whole chicken or something, I panic and just make a stock from it. The key to any good stock is to take your leftover bits of meat or fish, cook it a really long time with salt and dried herbs, then pull all that out and cook your veggies/aromatics in it for about an hour at the end. Or mix in veggie stock after you are finished the initial stuff. Like I said, I usually am just using up stuff out of my fridge that won't make either a curry or a gumbo (Including leftover wine).

Andouille sausage adds a LOT of flavor to this. I know I claim to be a lazy chef, but I enjoy making sausage, especially on the smoker, so I make this myself. That being said, check around. I know a couple of the grocery stores locally have it.

On the veggies: the traditional French proportions for their trinity is 2 parts Onion, 1 part Celery, 1 part Pepper. Its good to follow but honestly, it doesn't need to be at all precise. If its all even, that's fine. If you have way more of one than the other, that can also be fine. I honestly care more about what I get an individual mouthful of rather than overall the flavors. So make sure to dice these pretty small. Garlic is considered optional here too (Traditionally). Also, as mentioned feel free to sub out some, or just add in, other peppers.

I'm also pretty sure adding tomatoes turns a Gumbo into a Creole. But I like it better myself. I still call it "Gumbo". But I think 'traditional' Gumbo does not have tomatoes in it. That being said, do what you like, as there really isn't such a thing as a 'traditional' gumbo since every gumbo is different, as it is really just a trash dish (Throw in all your remaining leftovers).

For your seasoning: Just find a blend you like. I like Emeril's Blend. Its the stuff he uses to go "BAM!". Feel free to do that to annoy your loved ones.

Gumbo File is a thing you can buy. Its made for thickening sauces. I like it in gumbo over okra personally (You avoid the whole "Eww Gross Okra" problem). You don't really need it if you don't want either. You can also add it in when you serve it.

On Whisking your Roux: So, I don't use a whisk for my roux. I have a Special "Roux Spoon" which I now suspect was a bit overpriced food tourist trap thing, except that it is a really nice wooden spoon that I don't regret. The big thing the whisk does is to help break up clumps of flour. The main thing you want is to break up the clumps and keep stirring. HOWEVER, recently I saw a Good Eats on Gumbo where Alton Brown figured out how to cook roux in the oven so it never burns. I personally haven't tried it yet, but its intriguing especially if you like a darker roux.

On the Dutch Oven: I have found that gumbo is not a great stove-top dish, long term. I've tried making it just on the stove multiple times, and ended up with the inside bottom being burnt stuff. The Dutch oven gives a nice overall spread of heat to cooking. If you don't have one, just use a big pot, but consider getting one if you are willing to find ways to use it (Mine was $40 on Amazon). I like my enamel coated one.

For Perfectly Delicious Vegetarian/Vegan Gumbo:

Replace your chicken with Tofu and/or mushrooms. Only use Veggie stock. If you are adding tofu, treat it like seafood. Use oil instead of butter. Don't use the sausage. Honestly, one of the best Gumbos I made was vegan, I had nailed the veggie stock.

That was a bit more long winded than usual. But I think its worthwhile to explain.

This dish benefits a lot from doing all the prep work ahead of time.

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 300F. In your dutch oven, toss the chicken thighs with some oil, salt, pepper, and some Cajun Seasoning. Roast in the oven for 45min-1hr. You don't need to cook through.

2. In a separate pot, mix all of the stock into one, and bring it up to a simmer. You can let this happen while the other stuff is running. If you are using a brand new container of stock, you can probably add it in directly from room temp, but you don't want it chilled (and you don't want your homemade stock to sit at room temp).

3. Set aside the chicken in a bowl somewhere. Leave the oil and stuck chicken bits on the bottom of the pan. Place your dutch oven over medium heat on the stove. Add in the butter (I recommend cutting it up a bit to spread). Then add in your flour, spreading it around. Also mix in some Cajun seasoning (Maybe half a teaspoon). Stir often, but you don't have to stir constantly. This is your Roux.

4. Once you have your Roux dark enough (I usually go light to medium out of a combination of fear and impatience), toss in your Trinity, and mushrooms if you decided to add them. Add salt and pepper as well. You want to stir often here. You want to start to sweat and soften the veggies. Once this happens, add in your garlic if you are using it.

5. Add in your Andoiulle sausage into the mix and get it mixed in. Then add in your stock. You want at least 3-4 cups of stock for this, but you can add more if you have it. Also add in more of your cajun seasoning (Probably a tablespoon here) and gumbo file. Bring it up to a slow boil.

6. Add your Chicken back in here, just whole, and just snuggle it into the liquid so it gets covered. Place your lid on and replace it back into your 300F Oven.

7. After about an hour, taste it. Most likely, it will need salt, so check that. Also maybe more cajun seasoning and/or gumbo file.

8. After another hour (2 total), take it out of the oven, and VERY CAREFULLY extract the chicken bones from the thighs. Watch out for that weird knuckle bit too, its sometimes on the thighs. You also can remove any skin if you don't like the texture of it. Shred any of the chicken meat and stir it back in. If you are adding seafood, this is a good time to add it, and then cook it for another 5-30 min, depending on the seafood. (Don't go too long on shrimp, but its hard to get that right). You can also taste and add more seasoning, salt, or file here too.

9. You can eat it any time after about hour 2, but letting it sit for another 30min or hour after that will probably make it better.

Serving:

I serve this over rice. I like to fill a bowl half with rice, them pack it down at an angle. This creates a semi-permeable bowl of rice that you can then eat gumbo+rice in a scoop with the rice getting too soggy all at once. I actually like to use Asian soup spoons to eat this, you get more in a bite.

At the cooking school they suggested supplying gumbo file and hot sauce so that people can add it to taste. I am adding that here because its a good idea.

Saving for Later:

This recipe makes a lot. I've never not had leftovers even after bringing it to a party. Freeze the gumbo without rice in single serving sized containers (1 Cup to 1 Pint depending on how much you eat). Reheat in the microwave until almost boiling (Defrost over night if you can). Just make new rice to serve it over.