February 2, 2015

We are in full blown winter here in Northwest Ohio. We had a major blast with over a foot of snow in the last 36 hours. Super Bowl parties were cancelled due to travel bans. We did not have party plans but were to host good friends for a family favorite, Chicken Gumbo. Our friends were unable to make the 5 mile drive to our house, but I made a double batch of this anyway!

This recipe does have a long history with me. It comes from a cookbook that Dave gave me on our first wedding anniversary. The first year anniversary gift is supposed to be “paper” so Dave bought for me Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen (c. 1984). He knew I liked to cook and he liked spicy, cajun food. As I look at the cookbook in front of me, the binding is torn and the pages are filled with food drippings and notes. It has been well used and cherished for 30 years.

I made Seafood Gumbo for Halloween that first year and have made different gumbos every year since (actually, I missed one year when we were out of town for Halloween). It’s one of my favorite days of the year. I prepare soups all day and thoroughly enjoy eating the gumbo with as few as four or as many as 25 friends and family after trick or treat is over. We never serve dessert as there is always candy to trade and share. Fresh bread is the best accompaniment. My friend Helen makes the best homemade bread and she is always willing bring a fresh loaf.

This post will certainly be my longest post yet. I’m enjoying reminiscing about our Halloween Gumbo tradition, and the instructions can be daunting to a new cook, or one who is afraid of multiple steps. I think its worth the effort as the soup is delicious with lots of depth of flavor.

The two most difficult steps are frying the chicken and making the roux. The trick with frying is to keep the oil hot – but not so hot to burn the chicken. Once the oil is hot enough and the chicken is added, I turn the heat down to medium high and watch carefully. You want the meat to cook through, but is difficult without getting the skin too dark. Even if the chicken is not fully cooked, you can de-bone it and put it in the broth a little longer than the recipe calls for so it finishes cooking. When making the roux, monitoring the oil temperature is also important. Once I add the flour, I typicaly turn the heat down to medium or medium high again. You need to continually whisk the roux so it doesn’t burn. If it does, the soup will be bitter.
For this recipe I typically use fresh vegetables, but yesterday I did use frozen green pepper that I had from an overabundance of them this past summer. It works just fine. A food processor is a really good way to quickly chop the vegetables. I do like them pretty finely chopped, but this is personal preference. A heavy soup pot really makes a differnce when preparing this soup…the heavier the better for heat conduction and easier stirring and scraping.

The vegetable mixture will stick to the bottom of your soup pot when added to the roux. This actually adds caramelization and will add flavor. It will come clean once you add the stock. I recommend buying real andouille sausage if you can find it. If not, a good smoked kielbasa type sausage has the most flavor. Once you add the sausage, this soup may seem extra oily. If you buy good sausage that’s not overly fatty, this is less of an issue. If you see a lot of fat rising to the top of the pot, you can skim it off with a spoon. Or, another trick is to take pieces of plain white bread and lay them gently on top of the pot. Once they soak up the oil on top, gently remove them with tongs. The bread may fall apart but you can scoop it out. This step really does make the soup taste better if it’s oily.

This is best served with rice. I tend to like short grain sticky rice – but the orignial recipe calls for basic long grain cooked rice. Normally I prefer brown rice, but not for this dish! If you like it spicy, it always adds lots of flavor and spice if you splash some good hot sauce on top!

Seafood Gumbo

Serves 6 main dish or 10 appetizer servings

prep time approximately 2 hours.

Ingredients

1 2-3 lb chicken cut up
salt
garlic powder
ground red pepper
1 cup finely chopped onions
1 cup finely chopped green peppers
3/4 cup finely chopped celery
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground red pepper
vegetable oil for deep frying
about 7 cups chicken stock
1/2 pound andouille smoked sausage or any other good pure smoked sausage cut into 1/2″ cubes
1 teaspoon minced garlic
hot cooked rice
tabasco (optional)

Instructions

Remove excess fat from the chicken pieces. Rub a generous amount of salt, garlic powder and red pepper on both sides of eah piece, making sure each piece is evenly covered. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium-size bowl combine the onions, bell pepperss and celery; set aside.

Combine the flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp garlic powder and 1/2 tsp red pepper in a paper or plastic bag. Add the chicken pieces (just a few at a time) and shake until chicken is well coated. Reserve 1/2 cup of the flour.

In a large heavy skillet or soup pot, heat 1 1/2 inches of oil until very hot (375-400′). Fry the chicken until the crust is brown on both sides and meat is cooked about 5 to 8 minutes per side; drain on paper towels. Carefully pour the hot oil into a glass measuring cup, leaving as many of the browned particles in the pan as possible. Scrape the pan bottom with a metal whisk to loosen any stuck particles, then return 1/2 cup fo the hot oil to the pan.

Place pan over high heat. Using long-handled metal whisk, gradually stir in the reserved 1/2 cup flour. Cook, whisking constantly, until roux is dark red-brown, about 3 1/2 to 4 minutes, being careful not to let it scorch or splash on your skin. Remove from heat and immediately add the reserved vegetable mixture, stirring constantly until the roux stops getting darker. Return pan to low heat and cook until vegetables are soft about 5 minutes, stirring constantly and scraping the pan bottom well.

Meanwhile, place the stock in a 5 1/2 quart saucepan or large dutch oven. Bring to a boil. Add roux mixture by the spoonfulls to the boiling stock, stirring until dissolved between additions. Return to a boil, stirring and scraping pan bottom often. (If your vegetable mixture is in a stock pot already, you can add the stock to the roux mixture slowly, stirring constantly and maintaining a boil). Reduce heat to simmer and stir in the sausage and minced garlic. Simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes, stirring often towards the end of the cooking time.

While the gumbo is simmering, bone the cooked chicken and cut the meat into 1/2″ dice. When the gumbo is cooked, stir in the chicken and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve immediately with cooked rice.

Notes