GUMBO night

since i've been eating food again for three days now, i've had a serious craving for some GUMBO. i remember eating some delicious seafood gumbo for lunch before sound check at the House of Blues in NO. i asked as many locals who has the best seafood gumbo within walking distance...my answer was Johnny's Po-Boys. a small little hole in the wall resto, filled with locals, a few tables and some folks behind the counter that looked like they knew what they were doing. this was the first time i had REAL gumbo. on a side note, the BBQ Shrimp at Mr. B's for dinner that night was killing. next time i go back it will the The Gumbo shop on the hit list.

back to tonight....so i figured i would make vegetable and soy chipotle sausage gumbo. last time i made seafood doing my best to recreate Johnny's.

Whole Foods stop:

onion, green pepper, celery (the holy trinity), garlic, okra, soy chorizo (or real adouille for you meat lovers), tomatoes (a big no-no in Cajon style, but we're making Creole), black-eyed peas, and i had the remaining ingredients (oil & flour (for the roux), dried herbs(thyme, basil, oregano), worcestershire, creole seasoning blend(must include cayenne pepper and paprika), homemade vegetable stock (seafood stock with seafood gumbo), lemon, and s&p).

basic recipe:

brown the sausage in a pan.
in a separate soup pot start the roux and cook to desired color. add the chopped vegetables (but not the okra) and aromatics and cook till tender. add browned sausage, diced tomatoes, okra, and stock. add seasoning and spices. bring to a boil. reduce to a simmer and continue cooking for 1 hour uncoverd. stirring occasionally and seasoning to taste. serve over rice and garnish with spring onions.

tips....

--cook the roux, without burning it, on med-high heat to get it as close to a dark chocolate color as possible. **stir constantly
--don't under season. it is a hearty soup and can take a little salt, heat, and spice. you can add bit of lemon or cider vinegar for some acidity. or try a small bouquet garni with some peppercorns, fresh parsley, bay leaf, whole cloves, etc....
--if you can't deal with the "slime" from your okra you can roast it in the oven for 10 minutes to take out a bit of its inherent moisture. however, the "slime" does help as a thickener in the soup.
--make sure your stock is very flavor-FULL. again, it is a soup and stock is the base. you can add Better Than Bouillon or Kitchen Bouquet to help with a uninspired stock.
--after bringing everything to a boil allow to simmer, with the lid off, and reduce and concentrate flavors
--server with a nice cold beer, California Zinfandel, Sancerre blanc, Australian Sauvignon blanc, or an Arnold Palmer.

YEZZIR