CHICKEN, SAUSAGE, AND SHRIMP GUMBO

If you’re serving this for dinner, give yourself the better part of an afternoon to make your creole-style (with okra) gumbo. If it’s done a bit ahead, leave off adding the okra and shrimp to the reheated stew until right before serving. Using the andouille sausage? You may want to cut back on cayenne and hot sauce. Make sure you have a big pot of fluffy rice to spoon up with your gumbo; I especially like jasmine rice. Inspiration from several gumbo recipes noted in blog post, particularly one from COOK’S ILLUSTRATED.

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Stew

Servings: 6

Author: More Time at the Table

Ingredients

¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose unbleached flour--the extra tablespoon is added later
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup each: chopped yellow onion, chopped green bell pepper, and finely chopped celery with leaves
5 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried marjoram (can sub 1/2 teaspoon oregano)
2 Bay leaves
15 -ounce can chopped tomatoes, drained
4 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade (32 oz)
¼ cup fish sauce--I like Red Boat
6 skin-on bone-in chicken thighs
3 skin-on bone-in chicken legs
½ pound smoked kielbasa or andouille sausage( 8 ounces) halved lengthwise and cut into ¼-inch slices
1 cup sliced frozen okra
1 pound frozen peeled medium shrimp with tail
1 cup each: chopped parsley + thinly sliced scallions for garnish
2 tablespoons file powder-ground sassafras root
Tabasco sauce offered at the table
6 cups cooked rice for serving

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place rack at bottom of oven. Add flour to an 7-8 quart heavy Dutch oven and place in oven for 10 minutes, stirring half-way through. Remove to stove top and stir in the oil until smooth. Cover, return pot to oven, and cook until the mixture is peanut butter colored—35-45 minutes. Remove pot from oven and whisk well.
With the pot over medium flame, tip in the onions and let cook 2 minutes. Stir in the bell pepper and celery; cook about 10 minutes or until softened. Stir in remaining tablespoon of flour; garlic; half a teaspoon each salt and pepper; the 1/8 teaspoon cayenne, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, 2 teaspoons thyme, 1 teaspoon marjoram and the 2 bay leaves. Cook two minutes more and stir in the drained tomatoes, cooking one more minute. Stir in the broth and fish sauce, whisking if necessary to make the mixture smooth. Bring to a boil.
While the stew comes to a boil, sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and place evenly around the pot. Cover and reduce to simmer for 45 minutes or until chicken is done through. Remove chicken to a cutting board and when cool enough to handle, bone, skin, and shred chicken. Discard bones and skin. Add the shredded chicken back into the pan with the sausage and return to a simmer. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Stir in the frozen okra and let simmer 6 minutes or so; add frozen shrimp. Continue to simmer until okra is just barely tender (do not over cook) and shrimp are cooked through and pink. Taste and season one last time, if needed, with salt, pepper, and cayenne. Serve hot in a shallow bowls with a scoop of rice, sprinkled with file powder and garnished with chopped scallions and parsley. Pass the Tabasco at the table.

Notes

ABOUT THE SAUSAGE: If you prefer a fresh sausage, I have tried fresh chicken Italian sausage with good success. It doesn't hold the heat of some of the others or some of the processing inherent in a smoked sausage. Add sliced fresh sausage to the pot about half way through the cooking time of the chicken -- say, after 20 minutes or so.