Lazy Day Gumbo

Last night I made gumbo for dinner.  The recipe said it served 12 to 14 people, but there was absolutely none left after the five of us ate.  That just goes to show how amazingly delicious this pot of gumbo was!  The recipe I used is from my Nanna, but I don't know where she got it from to begin with.  One thing I found interesting about this recipe for gumbo is that it says to make the roux in the microwave.  I'd never heard of doing it that way before, but I also had never really made a roux at all before.  I was a little skeptical, but it worked!  The recipe called for peanut oil, but Mommy said that Nanna has used canola oil, so I made the roux with canola oil instead.  I used frozen okra and frozen shrimp for the gumbo.  I thawed the shrimp before adding them, but I added the okra straight from the freezer.  Nanna always doubles the amount of okra in her gumbo, so I did, too: I used 20 oz. instead of 10 oz.  Also, I thought we had dried thyme, but I could not find it when it was time to add it to the pot, so I used fresh thyme instead.  For the chicken broth, I used 5 1/2 teaspoons of chicken base plus 5 1/2 cups of hot water, because we don't usually keep chicken broth on hand.

One more thing: At the bottom of the recipe is a note stating that Nanna adds some gumbo filé when she is putting in the other spices.  Daddy searched the grocery store and bought me some, and I had every intention of adding it...but I had put it away in our spice rack and forgotten about it...so, our gumbo didn't have any filé in it.  Which just means I'll have to make it again.  What a sacrifice it will be for my family to have to eat more gumbo another day! ;)

Lazy Day Gumbo
From my Nanna

Ingredients:
1 pound fully cooked smoked sausage, cut into 3/4 inch slices [I used Polka Kielbasa, because that's what Daddy likes!]
1/2 cup peanut oil [or canola oil]
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 medium onions, chopped
2 medium green bell peppers, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
2 [or more] cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves [I used about 6 sprigs of fresh thyme]
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
5 1/2 cups chicken broth [or 5 1/2 teaspoons chicken base + 5 1/2 cups hot water]
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 cups diced chicken [I used chicken tenders but I'm sure any kind of chicken would be fine]
1 1/2 cups fresh okra, or 1 10-ounce package frozen okra [Nanna always doubles this amount, so I did, too.  Use cut okra, not whole.]
1 pound peeled, de-veined medium shrimp [thawed from frozen works fine here]
6 cups hot cooked rice

Instructions:

Cook sausage in  large, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat 4 to 5 minutes.  Remove sausage; drain fat.  Set aside.

Combine oil and flour in 2-cup glass measure.  Microwave on high 5 minutes; stir with a small wire whisk.  [It will look funny when you take it out of the microwave--almost like a sponge or something--but don't panic.  Just stir it with a whisk and it will look fine.]  Continue to cook at 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval until roux is dark red-brown.  [Mine seemed dark red-brown to me after the first 5 minutes.  Yours may take longer, depending on your microwave.]  Pour roux into heavy saucepan; add onions, green peppers, celery, garlic, salt, black pepper, red pepper, thyme, and oregano.

Cook, stirring, 3 to 4 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.  Add broth and bay leaf; bring to a boil.  Add reserved sausage and chicken; reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.  Add okra; simmer 10 minutes.  Add shrimp; simmer 5 minutes.  Remove bay leaf.  Spoon rice and gumbo into serving bowls.

Yield: 12 to 14 servings [whoever wrote this yield has never met my gumbo-loving family--this only served the five of us!]