Chicken and Sausage Gumbo
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
2 chicken bullion cubes
1 ring of sausage, anything that you like works well or a good Kielbasa
1 white onion, chopped
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
5 stalks of celery, trimmed, cleaned and chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 t Thyme
1 T BBP or Tony’s
1 T Gumbo Filet
1 C cooking oil
1 C Flour
Preparation:
Chicken/Broth
Place whole chicken in a large pot and add water and chicken bullion cubes. Boil for about 1 hour or until tender enough to be able to de-bone when cool. Remove chicken to another receptacle to cool. Leave pot on stove, burner off and close to where the Roux will be made.
Roux
In a well seasoned cast iron skillet, add oil until bottom of pan is covered well. This should be about a cup of oil. Turn on burner to medium high and heat oil. Add flour and start stirring. When all of the flour is wet, the consistency should be like thin peanut butter and bubbling. If it is too wet, add a dash of flour. If it is too dry, add a dash of oil. At this time the mixture should be able to fill any void created by stirring and not leave a dry place in the pan. Stir mixture as it cooks and starts to turn light brown. Roux will turn light brown, then medium brown and then dark brown pretty quickly so be ready to act fast. When mixture has turned medium brown, add chopped white onion, turn off burner and continue to stir. When mixture has turned dark brown, add chicken broth from pot the chicken was boiled in. Ladle in about 6-8 scoups but be careful so as not to get burned by the steam. Stir the mixture as it cools down and stops steaming. Transfer your Roux to the pot the chicken was boiled in and stir to mix with the chicken broth. This is your base. Taste this before seasoning – it should be slightly sweet but not burnt tasting. If it is burnt tasting and burnt smelling, throw it out and start over. If it is slightly burnt or sour tasting, add a teaspoon of sugar to fix it.
Gumbo
Turn burner under pot on to low or medium low. In the cast iron skillet (cleaned after making your Roux) add a splash of oil and heat. Saute’ the green onions and add to the pot. Saute’ the celery and the bell pepper together and add to the pot. Add the Thyme to the pot. Salt and pepper to your liking. Add the BBP (Bob’s Blasting Powder). Add the Gumbo Filet to help thicken the gumbo.
De-bone the chicken and chop all of the meat into bite size pieces, add to the pot. Cut the sausage in half long ways, then chop it into bite size pieces and add to the pot.
Cover the pot and bring to a simmer for about an hour. Make a pot of rice to serve with the Gumbo. After the Gumbo has simmered for an hour, turn off the burner and let it cool for about 30 minutes or to a serving temperature. Use the ladle to remove any excess oil from the surface of the Gumbo before serving.
By this time you should have several comments about the delicious aroma in your kitchen and some hungry people hanging around. Serve over rice, with French Bread and Mustard Potato Salad.
Enjoy !!! Bob J