Chicken & andouille sausage okra gumbo

4 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1½ pounds Nice fresh okra; chopped up
1 cup Chopped onion
1 cup Chopped celery
1 cup Chopped green pepper
1 pounds Andouille sausage; chopped up
1 pounds Chicken breasts; skinned, dredged in flour with salt & pepper; and fried in oil or, use some pretty-good leftover fried chicken
Cayenne pepper (up to)
3 Cloves garlic; smashed & chopped fine
Olive oil
1 can (large) (about 7 cups) Swanson's chicken broth (of course home made is even better; but Swanson's is fine)
All the amounts are extremely approximate

Directions

Date: Mon, 19 Feb 96 10:08:54 -0800 From: David Casseres <casseres@...> Uh, this is a little embarrassing but it isn't really a recipe.. I just kinda make it up each time. But it usually goes about like this: Heat up maybe ⅓ cup of good olive oil in a big iron pot, and add half of the okra. Use plenty of heat, and stir CONSTANTLY for a long time, scraping it up if it tries to stick, adding a little water if it really insists on sticking. Let the stirring smash up the pieces of gumbo some.

When your arm is getting really tired, you'll see that the gumbo has yielded up all its slime and turned into a big slimy grey wad of goo. Don't think too much about what it looks like, but take it out of the pot and set it aside.

Clean out the pot, add some more oil, and fry up the onions, celery and pepper. When they are soft, add the rest of the okra and the broth, and bring it to a boil. Add the sausage, garlic and cayenne, and reduce to a simmer. Stir in the okra goo.

Simmer about 35 minutes. While it's simmering, bone the chicken breasts and cut into 1-inch cubes. Skim off all the fat that comes to the surface of the gumbo. Check the seasoning. Then add the chicken and simmer another 10 minutes. Don't overcook, it weakens the flavor. Serve over a little white rice, in soup bowls.

Notice three things about the seasoning. First, you may not need any salt beyond what's already in the broth. Second, this gumbo really doesn't need additional seasonings like herbs, file powder, etc. And third, notice I didn't say a thing about how much cayenne to use. You're the cook! One other thing -- If I can get nice, really fresh oysters I like to throw some in, raw, for the last 2 or 3 minutes, just enough to heat them through. My family are all crazy about them, but some folks aren't and sometimes you can't get fresh oysters.

CHILE-HEADS DIGEST V2 #245

From the Chile-Heads recipe list. Downloaded from Glen's MM Recipe Archive, .

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