“Cooking your catch” might be my favorite subforum on CF.com. Since there hasn’t been much activity here lately, I thought I would share my gumbo recipe. I’ve been making gumbo for a lot of years, tweaking my basic recipe the whole time. This is how I’m doing it after years of practice. The nice thing about gumbo is that none of the rules are hard and fast. If you don’t like an ingredient, leave it out or use less. Or add what you like. Give it a try.
Spicy Shrimp, Chicken, and Sausage Gumbo
Ingredients:
1 chicken breast half (with bone and skin)
1 large onion
1 large green bell pepper
2-3 ribs of celery (about 1.5 cups chopped)
4 cloves of garlic
2 lbs. shrimp with shells on
1 lb. link of hot Andouille sausage
¼ cup butter (or oil)
¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp. ground thyme
½ tsp. ground black pepper
½ tsp. ground red pepper
1 - 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 – 12 oz. pkg. frozen chopped okra
1 cup uncooked white rice
In a saucepan, cover the chicken breast with 2 cups of water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes then remove from heat. Place chicken breast on a plate to cool; retain the chicken broth.
Chop 1 onion, one bell pepper, and 2-3 ribs of celery into a bowl (the trinity). Chop 3-4 cloves of garlic, but keep separate from the trinity.
Peel and devein 2 lbs. of shrimp. If shrimp are large (20 count or larger), cut in half. Put cleaned shrimp in a bowl and refrigerate. Add a handful of shrimp shells to the chicken broth, bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Strain the broth through a tea strainer.
When chicken is cool enough to handle, debone and chop into bite-sized pieces. (Can do this while the sausage is browning in the next step.)
Chop a 1 lb. link of Andouille sausage, add to a heavy stock pot and brown. Cook some of the fat out of it, then spoon the sausage into a separate bowl, leaving the rendered fat in the stock pot.
Melt ½ stick of butter (or ¼ cup of oil) in the same stock pot and a rounded ¼ cup
