Homemade Gumbo

We participate in a food co-op. After we get our basket, I make a menu for the week and go from there. We also have a garden. We had a hard freeze and had to pick our tomatoes. A few months ago, we ate gumbo after the baby blessing for some neighbors. I got brave and decided to read lots of different recipes to see what the recipe contained. Everyone's is a little different. So I made-up my own using the basic tenants of gumbo making.

My Sous Chef

I have a gumbo 3 times including last night. So in my first attempt to make gumbo, it turned out. My Sweetheart even had two bowls.We invited the Mama of the baby blessing to share with us. She said it was really good.

Our Gumbo

Chicken & Sausage Gumbo
Source: A Bunch of Recipes from Allrecipes

Ingredients:
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
4 stalks celery
1 yellow onion
1 pound chicken
1 Kielbasa sausage
4 cups water
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup flour
2 cups tomatoes, skinned, deseeded, & chopped
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 - 6 drops Tabasco sauce

Chop up the celery, onion, and pepper. Place in a bowl to be sauteed in the Roux. Place in a pot to boil the raw chicken and sausage. Boil until cooked. Remove meats and chop. Save the broth for it will be used in the gumbo. Now for the Roux: mix the oil and flour until there are no lumps. Place a pot and stir on a medium heat. The Roux should turn a copper penny color and then it is ready. If you are using whole wheat flour, you need to cook it until it is just about burnt. You'll need to use your nose for this one.


Place the chopped veggies in the Roux and saute until soft. In the broth, add garlic, thyme, Creole seasoning, cayenne pepper and Tabasco sauce. Add the Roux veggies, tomatoes, and meat to broth. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Make rice (about 5 cups cooked) to add to the gumbo. Serve the gumbo with rice and file. File is sassafras leaves dried and ground. It is added to the gumbo as a thickener.

Other things that can be added are shrimp, okra, corn, or whatever else you'd like in the gumbo.