Bobby's gumbo

 

Ingredients

2 green peppers

3 yellow onions

1 head of celery w/ leafy parts on top

4 cloves of chopped garlic

3 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts

1 pound andouille sausage

1 pound peeled, deveined shrimp with tails off (optional)

1 cup flour

1 cup butter at room temp

Slap Ya Mama Cajun seasoning (or whatever Cajun seasoning you like)

3 bay leaves

Salt & pepper

Olive oil

 

Instructions

The only thing I really measure with this is the flour… other than that, don’t stress.

 1. The Trinity: Chop the peppers, 2 of the onions, and celery (set the leafy parts aside), combine in a large bowl, cover in a couple of tbsp of olive oil and a few shakes of seasoning and set aside.  

2. To a large stock pot, add leafy parts of celery, chicken breasts, 4 tbsp of olive oil, the bay leaves, the third onion (chopped into 1/8^th size chunks), a few shakes of salt & pepper, and cover the chicken breasts with water.  Boil until the chicken is done (165 degrees).  Check them at about 15mins and if they’re close, check every 2 mins after that.  

3. Remove the breasts from the pot.  Strain the stock into the bowl-  about 6-8 cups 

4. Wash out your stock pot, add about 6 cups of the stock and heat but not boiling

5. Remove the skin from the chicken and pull it off the bones.  Shred the chicken with a fork and set aside.

6. Slice the andouille sausage up into half discs and add that to the bowl of shredded chicken. Brown all the protein in a large frying pan, seasoning with the Cajun seasoning.  Once the protein is browned, set it aside.

7. The roux.  

• Get a large saute pan or a really big frying pan (6qt saute pan, but a 14” frying pan can work – preferably not a non-stick one.).  
• Slice butter into thin pats and set aside
• Turn the heat on medium & add the flour to the pan.
• Get a fork and spread the flour out so it evenly covers the bottom of the pan.
• About every 30 seconds to a minute take the fork and stir the flour to make sure it’s not getting scorched.  Don’t use it like a rake; hold the fork so the prongs are pretty flat – almost like you’re whisking it. You want the flour to be a dark tan color, but not burned.  Slightly lighter color than chocolate.  You’ll start to smell it and it will start to smoke a tiny bit.  That’s when you add the butter.
• Add the butter a couple of pats at a time, continuing to stir.  It will froth up. It should turn a darker color, too.  You want it the color between a penny and chocolate.

8.  Once the all the butter is added to the roux add it to the stock pot with the hot stock.  You want the roux and the stock to essentially come together.  Turn the heat up a touch on the stock and stir it about every couple of minutes.

9. Heat the veggies (trinity) in a large frying pan just so they come together and begin to release their juices.  Cook until the veggies cook down and begin to soften.  Turn the heat up a little bit, but not all the way to high.  After 5 minutes add the chopped garlic and a couple shakes of the Cajun seasoning.  Cook for 10 to 15 minutes for the veggies to cook down.

10. Add the veggies to the hot roux/stock pot and stir well. Add the chicken and sausage in small hand/spoonfulls. Turn the heat up to medium-high and stir it every minute or so for about 5-10 minutes so everything is really nice and combined.  I usually then top it off with any stock – as needed – to ensure the veggies and the chicken/andouille are at least covered with stock.  Just eyeball it.  You want it to be a somewhat thick soup consistency.  Add a couple of shakes of Cajun seasoning. 

11. Let it cook for about 30 mins at this point at a medium-low temp just so everything combines real well.

12. If you are adding shrimp, heat the gumbo back up to just boiling and throw in the shrimp.  Let the shrimp cook for about 10 minutes and then turn down the heat to a simmer. 

13. Let the gumbo simmer for about 30 minutes or so.  Use this time to adjust add seasoning until it tastes the way you want it. 

• Serve over white rice with warm, crustry French bread.