Recipe - Chicken And Andouille Sausage Okra Gumbo

1 One half pound Nice fresh okra; chopped up
1 cup Chopped onion
1 cup Chopped celery
1 cup Chopped green pepper
1 pound Andouille sausage; chopped
up
1 pound Chicken breasts; skinned,
dredged in flour with salt
& pepper; and fried in oil
or, use some prettygood
leftover fried chicken
Cayenne pepper
2 (up to)
3 Cloves garlic; smashed &
chopped fine
Olive oil
1 cn (large) (about 7 cups)
Swanson's chicken broth (of
course home made is even
better; but Swanson's is
fine)
All the amounts are
extremely approximate

Date: Mon, 19 Feb 96 10:08:54 0800

From: David Casseres casseres@apple.com
Uh, this is a little embarrassing but it isn't really a recipe.. I just
kinda make it up each time. But it usually goes about like this:

Heat up maybe 1/3 cup of good olive oil in a big iron pot, and add half of
the okra. Use plenty of heat, and stir CONSTANTLY for a long time,
scraping it up if it tries to stick, adding a little water if it really
insists on sticking. Let the stirring smash up the pieces of gumbo some.
When your arm is getting really tired, you'll see that the gumbo has
yielded up all its slime and turned into a big slimy grey wad of goo. Don't
think too much about what it looks like, but take it out of the pot and set
it aside.

Clean out the pot, add some more oil, and fry up the onions, celery and
pepper. When they are soft, add the rest of the okra and the broth, and
bring it to a boil. Add the sausage, garlic and cayenne, and reduce to a
simmer. Stir in the okra goo.

Simmer about 35 minutes. While it's simmering, bone the chicken breasts
and cut into 1inch cubes. Skim off all the fat that comes to the surface
of the gumbo. Check the seasoning. Then add the chicken and simmer another
10 minutes. Don't overcook, it weakens the flavor. Serve over a little
white rice, in soup bowls.

Notice three things about the seasoning. First, you may not need any salt
beyond what's already in the broth. Second, this gumbo really doesn't need
additional seasonings like herbs, file powder, etc. And third, notice I
didn't say a thing about how much cayenne to use. You're the cook!

One other thing If I can get nice, really fresh oysters I like to throw
some in, raw, for the last 2 or 3 minutes, just enough to heat them
through. My family are all crazy about them, but some folks aren't and
sometimes you can't get fresh oysters.

CHILEHEADS DIGEST V2 #245

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