CookBook2

Chicken and Shrimp Gumbo (cont.)
Cut the Okra into quarter inch slices, coat them in the leftover flour mixture and fry
them in the pot for a few minutes. Then set them aside.
Next add the onions, green peppers, celery and garlic to the pot , add more olive
oil if necessary, season it with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. I love my gumbo a
bit spicy. If you don’t like yours too spicy don’t add anymore cayenne pepper. The
Andouille sausage is already quite spicy so be careful.
Raise the heat a bit to get it going then go back to medium. Keep stirring the vegetables
with a wooden spoon, making sure you scrape the bottom of the pan to release
all the flavors leftover in the pot from the sausage and chicken that we cooked
earlier. Wait for the vegetables to start to brown, which could take anywhere between
10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your pot. The thicker/heavier
your cooking pot is, the more heat it can hold which can reduce the cooking time.
You want to make sure the vegetables are soft and translucent.
Add the tomatoes stir and cook for another couple of minutes. It is very important
to stir and scrape the bottom of the pot during this whole process. Transfer the
vegetables to a temporary bowl.
Now we are ready for the most important element of our Gumbo, The RUE. Make
sure you have a whisk or wooden spoons handy. Reduce the heat to low, you don’t
want to burn the flour.
Add ½ stick of butter. After it is melted and before it is starting to burn, add ¾ cup
of flour. Rue should be equal parts of oil/butter and flour. We should have enough
oil left over in the pan from earlier, so keep that in mind in case the rue is too dry.
Personally I add some cayenne pepper at this point, but that’s how I roll.
Make sure you keep stirring and scraping. You might have to increase the heat if
the butter is not bubbling. You want to do this until the rue turns into a dark tan.
This should take anywhere from 10-15 minutes depending on your cooking pot,
temperature, altitude and stars alignment.
Next add the vegetables to the rue. Make sure you stir and scrape the button. You
don’t want to burn the rue and make sure the vegetables are coated with the rue.
Season it with more salt and pepper, hold off the cayenne for now.
Add the sausage, chicken and fried Okra to the pot. Keep stirring. Make sure
everything is coated with all the goodness.
Add enough broth to cover everything plus ½ inch. Raise the heat, keep stirring until
it reaches a boiling point, reduce the heat to simmer and put the cover the pot.
You can relax now. You have worked hard for the last 30 minutes so enjoy a beverage
of your choice (try the GrapeCity mojito, recipe in the drink section) . But don’t
walk away, you need to stir and scrape the bottom of the pot, there are a lot of
flavors there.
Add the shrimp about 10 minutes before the cooking is done, when the chicken is
tender.
If you do have filet gumbo, which is ground sassafras leaves, add some to the
gumbo before serving. Filet gumbo is a thickening agent, much like the rue and
Okra. A good gumbo is based on good rue, and then you add either okra or filet
gumbo or a combination of both to bring it to a consistency of your liking. I love to
sprinkle some filet gumbo on my bowl right before I eat it.
We are done now, “Laissez les bons temps rouler“ (bing it). Pour each portion over
cooked rice and enjoy.
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