Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo

I suppose it was bound to happen eventually - a Daring Cook's Challenge that turned out just ok. I didn't love it, it wasn't terrible, but I don't think I'll be making it again. Still, it was a fun experience, and I got to try okra, which I'd never had before. And that's what it's all about, really!

Our May hostess, Denise, of There’s a Newf in My Soup!, challenged The Daring Cooks to make Gumbo! She provided us with all the recipes we’d need, from creole spices, homemade stock, and Louisiana white rice, to Drew’s Chicken & Smoked Sausage Gumbo and Seafood Gumbo from My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh.

Ingredients

For the Gumbo

• 1 cup Canola oil
• 1 cup Flour
• 4 small Onions, diced
• 1 whole Chicken (3 ½ to 4 lbs.), cut into 10 pieces
• 2 tbsp. Creole spice blend
• 2 lbs. spicy smoked Sausage, sliced ½ inch thick (I used chorizo)
• 2 stalks Celery, diced
• 2 green bell Peppers, seeded and diced
• 1 Tomato, seeded and chopped
• 2 cloves Garlic, minced
• Leaves from 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 3 qts. Chicken stock
• 2 Bay leaves
• 6 oz. Andouille sausage, chopped
• 11 oz. sliced fresh okra, ½ -inch thick slices (I used frozen, since it's all I could find)
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• Salt, to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the Rice:

• 1 tbsp. Butter
• 1 small Onion, minced
• 1½ cups long-grain white rice
• 3 cups Chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1-2 pinches salt

Directions

The prep work for this took quite awhile, lots of ingredients to chop, slice, dice, etc. Make sure you get all that done first, or you'll be rushing, and there's a good bit of active stirring for 15 minutes or more at a time in this recipe. Doesn't led well to mid-recipe prep work!

Season the chicken pieces with the creole spice blend. 

In a large, heavy-bottomed pan, heat the canola oil over high heat. Make a roux by whisking in the flour and continue to whisk until the roux starts to sizzle.

Turn it down to medium, and continue whisking until the roux turns a rich brown color, about 15 minutes.

Add the onions and stir with a wooden spoon.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until it becomes a dark brown, about 10 minutes. As you can see, for whatever reason, mine never quite browned, even though I let it cook for upwards of 25 minutes.

Next add the chicken, raise the heat to medium, and turn the chicken pieces a few times until slightly browned, about 10 minutes.

Add the spicy smoked sausage, cook 1 minute,

then add the celery, green peppers, tomato and garlic, and cook for 3 minutes.

Add the thyme, bay leaves and chicken stock, and bring to a boil. Because there were so many ingredients and so much liquid, it probably took a good half hour or 45 minutes to get up to a boil.

Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally and skimming once in awhile the foamy scum that rises to the top.

After 45 minutes, add the andouille, okra, and Worcestershire sauce, along with salt & pepper to taste.

Let simmer another 45 minutes. 

Use this break to make the rice. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan, and sweat the onions until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and toast for 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil, and then add the bay leaf and salt. Cover with a lid and cook on low for 18 minutes. Set aside.

After the gumbo is done simmering for 45 minutes, remove the bay leaves. 

Serve in bowls over rice.

I'm not sure if it was the texture of the okra, or maybe the flavor of the sausages, but for whatever reason this just didn't hit home with me. The roux, however, was quite successful in making a really rich, thick sauce. Turns out 15 minutes of whisking pays off. Who knew? 

The chicken was actually my favorite bit of the whole dish. Because it was slow simmered for so long, it got fall-off-the-bone tender and really soaked in the flavor of the creole spice blend. I may take that technique and next time just do chicken + spice blend + stock + 1.5 hours over rice. 

This was also my second time breaking down a whole chicken on my own, and, while it was still a bit sloppy, I'm definitely getting better at feeling where the joints are so that I get the most amount of meat and the least amount of bone shards. Bone shards are bad.