Mumbo Gumbo
When the weather gets cooler I like to keep warm with a bowl of steamy, spicy gumbo. It warms up the body and the palette. I developed this recipe one night based on what I had on hand at the time. It does stray from the more traditional gumbos. A quick look at the internet will tell you that there really is no one traditional recipe. So I will add mine to the list.
- 1 red bell pepper (or green, red is primarily for the color)
- 2 stocks celery
- 1/2 medium red onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 andouille style sausage (about 1 pound)
- 2 teaspoons old bay seasoning
- 2 teaspoons hot sauce (tabasco chipotle hot sauce recommended)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/2 pound uncooked medium shrimp, deveined and shells removed
- 2 cans (14 oz) low sodium chicken broth (or equivalent home made)
- 1/2 cup long grain white rice
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour (gluten free version is below)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Place the andouille sausage in a baking pan and place in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. The sausage will not be fully cooked.
Chop the bell pepper, celery, and red onion into a medium dice. Chop the garlic in small dice or put through a garlic press.
Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan and add the pepper, onion, celery and bay leaves. Saute for about 5 minutes letting the ingredients soften. Add the garlic, the bay seasoning and the hot sauce and saute for another minute or two. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
In a small sauce pan heat the chicken stock to a simmer.
In a dutch oven or medium size pot melt the two tablespoons of butter and add the flour over medium heat. Mix thoroughly and let the butter and flour mixture bubble and brown in the pot for about 5 minutes. You may want to keep stirring so the mixture does not stick to the bottom of the pot. The mixture should turn a deep golden brown.
Remove the sausage from the oven and cut into 1/2 inch pieces. Add the chicken stock to the butter/flour mixture and heat to a simmer stirring to incorporate all the mixture. Add the sausage and the sauteed vegetables to the pot. Simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. Add the rice to the pot and continue to simmer for 15 minutes. Add the cilantro and the shrimp to the pot and simmer an additional 5 minutes.
This makes about four large bowls of gumbo.
Gluten Free Version
Instead of the butter and flour mixture substitute 1 tablespoon of corn starch dissolved in about 3 tablespoons of water. Once the chicken stock, sausage and vegetables are added to the pot stir in the corn starch to thicken the mixture. At this point the mixture will thicken slightly. When the rice is added the mixture will thicken much more. It makes no dramatic difference in the taste.