Gumbo is one of the traditional dishes of Louisiana and takes its name from « okra », a vegetable native to Africa. It’s a thick soup, even called « stew, » which combines chicken or sausage with a thickener and an assortment of chillies and vegetables, including celery and peppers.
we prefer this soup with seafood and tomatoes, called “creole gombo”. Some even claim that this stew is a distant cousin of bouillabaisse, a traditional dish in Mediterranean Provence cuisine.
How to Make Classic Gumbo
Gumbo is a rich, flavorful stew that combines a Louisiana Creole gumbo, with sausage and chicken.
Ingrédients
- 50 g butter
- 50 g flour
- 0,72 pound (⅓ kg) of sausages
- 600g chicken breast you can also use shellfish meat like shrimp or any type you prefer
- 1 green pepper
- 1 yellow pepper
- 1 liter of water
- 1 sprig of celery
- 1 large white onion
- 3 cloves of minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon of paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
- 1 pinch of fresh ground black pepper
- 1 leaf bay
- 250 g long grain white rice
- 1 pinch of nutmeg
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of Cajun butter
Instructions
- in a saucepan you melt Cajun butter for a minute in a light heat then you add the flour and mix. Cook, stirring all the time, until it turns brown.
- Cut the sausages into slices. Heat a pan and brown the sausages for about 3 minutes on each side. The idea is not to cook them but to grill them lightly.
- Meanwhile, cut the chicken breasts into cubes. When the sausage slices are well grilled, remove them from the pan and put the diced chicken in it for 3 to 5 minutes on each side. Book.
- Split the peppers in half, remove the stalk, ribs and seeds. Wash them and cut them. Peel and finely chop the onion. Wash the celery stalk and dice it. Peel the garlic clove and dice it.
- Return to heat the roux in a cast iron casserole dish. When it is hot, wet with the quart of water. Stir constantly and bring to a simmer. Then add the vegetables, the diced chicken and sausage and the spices.
- Cover and cook for 45 minutes over low heat and covered. At the end of this time, uncover and simmer for about 20 minutes, uncovered.
- Meanwhile, prepare the rice by immersing it in plenty of water. Let it cook for the time indicated on the package.
- Serve in the same container the rice and the meat, and sprinkle with the broth.