Thursday, November 21, 2013

Gumbo

We traveled to Tennessee to visit family. It was a crazy, cold weekend itinerary involving football games and marching band competitions - and our talented son-in-law cooked up a batch of his infamously delicious gumbo! 

Here's what I learned from Wikipedia.  Gumbo is a dish that originated in southern Louisiana during the 18th Century.  Typically  it is a strong-flavored stock with meat or shellfish, a thickener, and seasoning vegetables.  It may also include the trio of celery, bell peppers and onion, know as the "holy trinity" in Cajun cuisine. 

Gumbo is often categorized by the type of thickener used: the African vegetable okra, the Choctaw spice file powder (dried and ground sassafras leaves), or roux,  the French base made of flour and fat. The dish likely derived its name from either the Bantu word for okra (ki ngombo) or the Choctaw word for filĂ© (kombo).  Creole gumbo contains shellfish.  Cajun gumbo varies but often has a dark roux with shellfish or fowl, but not together. Gumbo is traditionally served over rice.

 Danny added smoked sausages and diced chicken breast to the pan to brown.  


The next addition into the pot was two packaged of cut okra, partially thawed.

And a few bay leaves...
Garlic salt, basil, oregano onion... 
and two sliced jalapeno peppers.  

Danny gave the roux another stir.
...and then added it into the pot of gumbo ingredients.

And after an hour (or more if you want) simmering to blend the ingredients.  

We served the Gumbo over a bowl of steamed brown rice.  
Delish!

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