I was at WallyWorld the other day, (WalMart to the rest of you) and saw one of those delicious rotisserie chickens that I love so. Warm, dark crispy skin, savory, succulent, ooooozing with tasty juices, all wrapped in a plastic container for me to take home. After sampling the tastiest of morsels, (the top of the delicious breast with the wonderful skin attached) I decided I'd like to use the rest for some wonderful, dark, rich gumbo. Here is the recipe.1 cup cooking oil
1 ½ cup plain flour
3 cup onion (diced)
2 cup celery (diced)
1 cup green bell pepper (diced)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
4 tbs worcestershire sauce
1 tbs tabasco sauce
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme (or ½ tsp dried)
½ tbs kosher salt
½ tbs black pepper
½ tsp cayenne pepper
2 cups crushed tomatoes
½ cup green onion (sliced thin)
¼ cup parsley (minced)
1 Rotisserie Chicken
1 lbs Andouille sausage (sliced ½ inch)
10 cups water
To start with, remove all the usable meat from the chicken chop up to a medium dice and set aside. Place all skin, bones, scraps, and any leftover stock or brown gelatinous yummy stuff that is in the chicken carton, into a stock pot, along with any onion or celery scraps. Cover with 10 cups of water and bring to a boil. You can add your herbs at this point to include their intense flavor into the stock. Cook for 45 mins. to an hour on MED/HI. Strain the stock into a pot and keep warm on the stove. Should yield about 8 cups.In a MED/HI cast iron Dutch Oven, make a dark brown roux from the oil and flour. When the roux is right, add the onions and cook, stirring for 10 minutes. Now add the celery, green pepper, garlic, ½ of the green onions, and cook for 10 minutes. Add all spices, tabasco, and worcestershire sauce.
Add 2 cups of the hot stock and stir well until it combines with the roux. Add the diced smoked sausage, chicken meat, and cook 10 mins. Now add remaining stock, tomatoes, and bring to a boil for 5 minutes.
Turn back down to MED/LO and cook 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Add remaining parsley and chopped green onions, and let it simmer another half hour on LO. Serve over rice.
* If you like okra in your gumbo, heat ¼ cup of oil and sauté 2 cups of frozen or fresh okra in another skillet until it is no longer sticky and gooey, about 20 minutes on MED. Add to gumbo when you add the sausage and chicken.
* 1 tbs. of Filé powder can also be added during the last 15 mins. of cooking.
