Mumbo Gumbo

I pretty much love any dish that hails from Louisiana. The fusion of African and European flavors and techniques remind me of the creole food I grew up on in Trinidad. Gumbo is right up my alley--a comforting one-pot meal with some of my favorite ingredients: okra, andouille sausage, chicken and shrimp.

Gumbo is really easy to make. The hardest step is making the roux (but more on that later). Start by slicing 4 andouille sausages on the diagonal. Then brown the sliced sausage in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Beforehand you want to add just enough canola oil to coat the bottom of the Dutch oven to prevent the sausage from sticking. Once the sausage slices are browned remove them and set aside. Next add 6 chicken thighs seasoned liberally with Lawry's seasoning salt (I am a big fan of the stuff..but plain old salt and pepper would also work) to the Dutch oven. You want to brown the chicken in the oils that the sausages released. I recommend browning the chicken in batches as an overcrowded pan will lower the temperature and lengthen the browning time. Remove the chicken after you've achieved a nice deep brown color (remember color=flavor). After browning the chicken pieces, set them aside with the sausage. Next you want to saute the aromatic veg. I added about a tablespoon of finely chopped celery, 6-7 tablespoons of finely diced yellow bell pepper (about a 1/3 of a large yellow bell pepper), a finely diced medium onion and 3 large cloves of minced garlic. Saute this vegetable mixture--in the same Dutch oven that you used to brown the sausage and chicken--until the onions become translucent. Then remove all of the vegetable mixture from the Dutch oven and set aside.

Now comes the roux. Add about 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter to the Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Once the butter has melted add 4 tablespoons and using a whisk stir the mixture until the flour is completely incorporated into the butter. Keep whisking periodly and slowly brown the roux until is goes from a blond color to a deep caramel color. When the color is right add about a quart of chicken broth to the Dutch oven. Then add the sausage, chicken, and vegetable mixture back to the Dutch oven. There should be enough liquid to completely cover the sausage and chicken. Add 1 teaspoon of Gumbo file (if you don't have this the recipe will work fine), 1/2 a pack of Sazon (a Goya spice--don't worry if you don't have it), cayenne pepper to taste and then simmer on medium-low heat for about 45-50 minutes or until the chicken is really tender (the meat should pull apart easily). Then add about a cup of frozen chopped okra. Once the okra is fork tender (a few minutes), add about about 1/2 lb of shrimp. Cook for 5 minutes longer until the shrimp is cooked (they should just turn pink and curl up a bit). Finish with a squeeze of lemon and chopped parsley for garnish. This recipe will feed about 4-5 people.