Delphine
04-01-2008, 05:13 PM
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/AnnabelleL/Smilies/teeny-1.gif
I made gumbo last week “on the cheap” and thought I’d pass the recipe along.
For all of you land-locked “Yanks”, I’ve tried to substitute ingredients anyone can find. It’s not necessary to have shrimp or crayfish/crawfish, but it’s a nice last minute addition. Also, we add Filé before eating…as a thickener…but it’s not necessary, either. Some cooks add okra to their gumbo to thicken it, but okra doesn’t have many friends around here, so you may nix that, also.
I used chicken, smoked sausage, and crawfish. Chicken and smoked sausage are fine and are my recommendation.
Later this year, you might use your leftover Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey to make gumbo, making this a good leftover dish.
BASIC CHICKEN GUMBO
Ingredients
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons flour
2 onions (Gumbo is personal. You may add chopped celery, or even carrots when you saute your onions.)
1 (14 1/2ounce) can tomatoes (I used diced. You may use several fresh tomatoes, but be sure to blanche and peel them.)
okra, chopped (optional)
garlic or garlic powder
salt
pepper
red peppers or hot sauce
shrimp or smoked sausage or crabmeat or chicken or ham(any three)
Old Bay Seasoning (Substitute: Mrs. Dash (general) Seasoning Blend. I used the All Natural Table Blend, but any “general” Mrs. Dash is good.)
Filé powder, at table (optional)
Cooked rice
The Day Before You Eat Gumbo
Simmer the parts of one chicken with your choice of spices in a stew pot until done. You may use a whole chicken or leftover turkey. When done, strip the meat off of the bone; cover and refrigerate. Refrigerate the stock. The next day you can de-fat the stock and you’re ready to go.
MAKE YOUR ROUX (ROOOO) :yup:
Put 3 tbs of oil and 3 tbs of flour in a skillet and mix them on medium heat; set them aside when they are caramel brown…the color of a brown paper bag…etc. If it burns, throw it away and start over. To make my roux even darker, I sometimes add a gravy browner. The roux helps to thicken, season, and color the gumbo.
MAKING THE GUMBO
Chop 2 onions and saute (with okra, if used) in 2 tbs oil.
Add tomatoes, de-fatted stock, several cups of water, garlic or garlic powder, salt, red pepper or hot sauce…all to taste. Taste your gumbo and add more spices as it simmers. We opt for spicy…not too hot.
Add meat, roux, stock, and enough water to make a soup-type mixture.
Simmer for half a day or so.
About 1/2 hour before eating, add your seafood.
EATING YOUR GUMBO
Fill bowls about ˝ full with cooked rice and top with your gumbo. We serve with French bread, of course. http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/AnnabelleL/Smilies/alligatorcooking.gif
Check it out: www.cajungrocer.com
Gumbo Filé, Gombo Filé
The Picayune’s Creole Cook Book (1901)
First, it will be necessary to explain here, for the benefit of many, that "Filé" is a powder manufactured by the remaining tribe of Choctaw Indians in Louisiana, from the young and tender leaves of the sassafras. The Indian squaws gather the leaves and spread them out on a stone mortar to dry. When thoroughly dried, they pound them into a fine powder, pass them through a hair sieve, and then bring the Filé to New Orleans to sell, coming twice a week to the French Market from the old reservation set aside for their home on Bayou Lacombe, near Mandeville, La. The Indians used sassafras leaves and the sassafras for many medicinal purposes, and still sell bunches of the dried roots in the French Market. The Creoles, quick to discover and apply, found the possibilities of the powdered sassafras, or "Filé" and originated the well-known dish, "Gumbo Filé."
I made gumbo last week “on the cheap” and thought I’d pass the recipe along.
For all of you land-locked “Yanks”, I’ve tried to substitute ingredients anyone can find. It’s not necessary to have shrimp or crayfish/crawfish, but it’s a nice last minute addition. Also, we add Filé before eating…as a thickener…but it’s not necessary, either. Some cooks add okra to their gumbo to thicken it, but okra doesn’t have many friends around here, so you may nix that, also.
I used chicken, smoked sausage, and crawfish. Chicken and smoked sausage are fine and are my recommendation.
Later this year, you might use your leftover Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey to make gumbo, making this a good leftover dish.
BASIC CHICKEN GUMBO
Ingredients
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons flour
2 onions (Gumbo is personal. You may add chopped celery, or even carrots when you saute your onions.)
1 (14 1/2ounce) can tomatoes (I used diced. You may use several fresh tomatoes, but be sure to blanche and peel them.)
okra, chopped (optional)
garlic or garlic powder
salt
pepper
red peppers or hot sauce
shrimp or smoked sausage or crabmeat or chicken or ham(any three)
Old Bay Seasoning (Substitute: Mrs. Dash (general) Seasoning Blend. I used the All Natural Table Blend, but any “general” Mrs. Dash is good.)
Filé powder, at table (optional)
Cooked rice
The Day Before You Eat Gumbo
Simmer the parts of one chicken with your choice of spices in a stew pot until done. You may use a whole chicken or leftover turkey. When done, strip the meat off of the bone; cover and refrigerate. Refrigerate the stock. The next day you can de-fat the stock and you’re ready to go.
MAKE YOUR ROUX (ROOOO) :yup:
Put 3 tbs of oil and 3 tbs of flour in a skillet and mix them on medium heat; set them aside when they are caramel brown…the color of a brown paper bag…etc. If it burns, throw it away and start over. To make my roux even darker, I sometimes add a gravy browner. The roux helps to thicken, season, and color the gumbo.
MAKING THE GUMBO
Chop 2 onions and saute (with okra, if used) in 2 tbs oil.
Add tomatoes, de-fatted stock, several cups of water, garlic or garlic powder, salt, red pepper or hot sauce…all to taste. Taste your gumbo and add more spices as it simmers. We opt for spicy…not too hot.
Add meat, roux, stock, and enough water to make a soup-type mixture.
Simmer for half a day or so.
About 1/2 hour before eating, add your seafood.
EATING YOUR GUMBO
Fill bowls about ˝ full with cooked rice and top with your gumbo. We serve with French bread, of course. http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/AnnabelleL/Smilies/alligatorcooking.gif
Check it out: www.cajungrocer.com
Gumbo Filé, Gombo Filé
The Picayune’s Creole Cook Book (1901)
First, it will be necessary to explain here, for the benefit of many, that "Filé" is a powder manufactured by the remaining tribe of Choctaw Indians in Louisiana, from the young and tender leaves of the sassafras. The Indian squaws gather the leaves and spread them out on a stone mortar to dry. When thoroughly dried, they pound them into a fine powder, pass them through a hair sieve, and then bring the Filé to New Orleans to sell, coming twice a week to the French Market from the old reservation set aside for their home on Bayou Lacombe, near Mandeville, La. The Indians used sassafras leaves and the sassafras for many medicinal purposes, and still sell bunches of the dried roots in the French Market. The Creoles, quick to discover and apply, found the possibilities of the powdered sassafras, or "Filé" and originated the well-known dish, "Gumbo Filé."