Lars’s Chicken Sausage Gumbo

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A Little Personal History:

I first got turned onto Gumbo while living and working in New Orleans. It’s a great dish, easy to make, when you’ve got left-over meats and/or seafood.

Description:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Lars’s Brown Roux

• 2 Tbs butter
• 1 cup onions, chopped
• ½ cup green bell pepper, chopped
• ½ cup celery, chopped
• 1 Tbs garlic, chopped

• 2 cups andouille sausage (or other spicy sausage), sliced into ½ pieces

• 2 quarts Lars’s Chicken Stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 1 Tbs brown sugar
• 2 Tbs Lars’s Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 Tbs Lars’s Cajun Blast Seasoning
• ½ tsp Lars’s Scorching Hot Sauce (more or less to taste)

• 2 cups chicken meat, cooked & shredded

• Lars’s Yellow Rice, for serving
• Chopped scallions, for garnish

Procedure:

1. Prepare roux per instructions. Set aside.
2. Measure butter, set aside in small bowl.
3. On cutting board, chop onion, pepper, celery and garlic. Set aside in medium bowl.
4. Slice sausage and set aside in medium bowl.
5. Measure out stock and set aside in large bowl.
6. Measure thyme, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, Cajun seasoning, hot sauce and set aside in small bowl.
7. Shred cooked chicken meat with fork and set aside in medium bowl.
8. Chop scallions and set aside in small bowl.
9. In large cooking pot, over medium heat, melt butter. Add chopped onion/vegetable mixture and saute constantly with wooden spoon till vegetables are golden brown.
10. Add sliced sausage and cook 5 minutes or until some fat releases from sausage.
11. Add ¼ cup stock and then roux, a Tbs. at a time. Blend together until well mixed with sausage and vegetables.
12. Add remaining chicken stock, bay leaf, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, Cajun seasoning and hot sauce.
13. Over medium high heat, bring to a boil, reduce to medium low and simmer for 1 hour.
14. Add shredded chicken and simmer for another 30 minutes.
15. Prepare rice per instructions.
16. Taste, adjust seasonings as needed and ladle over rice. Garnish with green onions.

Advanced Preparation:

• Steps 1 – 8 can be done day of event, covered and refrigerated till ready to cook.
• Roux (Step 1) can be done days in advance and stored till ready to use.
• If you don’t have chicken and stock prepared, follow directions for Lars’s Chicken Stock and shred the boiled chicken.
• You can also use left-over rice, re-heat just before ready to serve.

Tips, Notes, and Variations:

• This gumbo is a great dish for left-over Thanksgiving Turkey. Just substitute turkey stock and shredded turkey for chicken stock and chicken meat.
• Gumbo is basically a thick soup that can be served over rice on a plate (as in this dish) or in a bowl. When serving in a bowl, I like to first add the gumbo and then place a large spoonful or two right in the center. You can also adjust the thickness by the amount of brown roux added. Experiment and have fun.
• Any left overs can be refrigerated or frozen for re-heat later.
• The meats in gumbo are as varied as your imagination. This recipe assumes meats are pre-cooked.
• Left-over steak, ham or pork, cut into bite sized cubes – add when chicken is added.
• Seafood (shrimp, crab meat, scallops, lobster, etc) – add during last 10-15 minutes of cooking.

Tags: Cajun Cuisine, chicken, sausage