A Good Night for Gumbo

With yesterday being both Renée’s birthday and the night of the BCS Championship game, we decided to host a little get together with a few friends and some good food. Since the football game was being played in New Orleans, Renée wanted to serve gumbo, so she did some looking and settled on one of Emeril’s recipes as a starting point. If you’re going to make gumbo, I don’t think you can find a better place to begin. I’d never made gumbo before, so I was excited to give it a go. And although Sloopy didn’t hang on to bring OSU a victory, the gumbo turned out to be one of the best dishes we’ve ever made. I’m glad we doubled the recipe so we have leftovers to enjoy over the next few days!

Renée did the shopping, picking up some homemade kielbasa, some chicken thighs, and some shrimp along with green onions and bell peppers to go with the yellow onions, celery, and fresh parsley we had on hand. She helped me prep by getting the veggies and seasonings ready while I sliced the kielbasa and removed the skin from the chicken.

Typical gumbo contains one or more kinds of poultry, shellfish, and smoked pork

This recipe calls for Emeril’s Essence Creole Seasoning which you can make yourself by mixing 2 1/2 T paprika, 2 T kosher salt, 2 T garlic powder, 1 T black pepper, 1 T onion powder, 1 T cayenne pepper, 1 T dried oregano, and 1 T thyme. I poured the mixture in a zip top bag, then tossed the chicken thighs to coat them thoroughly.

Then it was time to start cookin’! I started by browning the kielbasa in a tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat, working in batches to avoid crowding the pan so the kielbasa would brown evenly. Then it was the chicken’s turn, again working in batches using the fat remaining in the pan from the kielbasa. Once the chicken is browned, it’s time to roux.

Here’s where you have to be careful with your heat. The roux consists of oil and flour, so you have to stir constantly for 20 to 25 minutes. The flour will burn quickly if the heat is too high and you’ll end up with little black specks. If this happens, you need to start over. The roux will start out very light, but will eventually darken to a nice chocolate color.

Once you’ve got the roux to a nice rich color, add the yellow onions, peppers, and celery and stir until wilted. Then add the kielbasa, salt, cayenne, and bay leaves and cook for a few minutes before slowly adding the chicken stock. (Once again, I can’t say enough about how much homemade stock adds to the flavor of every dish I use it in. It’s worth the time to make lots and lots of it!) Bring it to a boil and then reduce to medium-low and let it simmer uncovered for about an hour.

I transferred the mixture to my stock pot before adding the chicken back to the pot. Simmer for 90 minutes, then remove from the heat and use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken and bay leaves. Pull the chicken meat from the bones and return the meat to the pot. Stir in the green onions and parsley. (We couldn’t get any file powder, so we left it out. I don’t think it made a bit of difference.)

Once this cooled to room temp, I put it on the fridge overnight. Then I just popped it back on the stove and brought it back to serving temp while the rice cooked in a separate pot. I gave the shrimp a quick saute in some butter before adding them to the gumbo. Finally, I added a few extra cubes of frozen stock and about 1 cup of heavy cream for a little more richness and flavor.

For extra tasty rice, try adding about a teaspoon of kosher salt and a tablespoon of unsalted butter per cup of rice to the water just before you add the rice. Once cooked, you can keep your rice ready to serve in a crock pot set on “keep warm” setting.

Spoon a little rice into a bowl and ladle the gumbo on top.

This dish turned out much better than I expected and our guests were very complimentary. A great meal, all under the watchful eye of Chef Michael Symon.

Tagged as: Bay leaf, Black pepper, Cayenne pepper, celery, chicken, crock pot, Emeril Lagasse, Garlic, Gumbo, kielbasa, kosher salt, New Orleans, oregano, paprika, peppers, roux, Stock, thyme, yellow onions