RouxBDoo's Crock-Pot Gumbo

Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo

OK, I have used a Crock-Pot occasionally over the years, but I recently bought a new, large, Crock-Pot with a removable crock, which makes it easier to clean.  So far I have made Red Beans and Rice, Stewed Chicken Legs, and and Chili.  I had been wanting Gumbo here recently and a friend of mine from Louisiana sent me some nice Andouille Sausage.  So I tried my new Crock-Pot and Andouille at making gumbo... Ahhhh, I love the sweet smell of success when you wake up in the morning with a kettle full of Gumbo.  Needless to say, it was successful and tasty.

I suppose you could use this recipe to make seafood gumbo, but I wouldn't put the seafood in the Crock-Pot until the last hour.  This is a Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo using a rotisserie chicken from the Grocery or Mega-Mart store.  You need to make the roux first on your stove, you can buy pre-made roux in some regions, I have no experiience with it to give you an opinion on it.  Chef Dave here at the theater has used Chef John Folse's ready-made roux and loves it.  Anyway, here we go.

Ingredients
1 cup of oil
1 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
1 lb andouille smoked sausage (sliced 1/4 in.)
1 rotisserie chicken
1 large onion (diced)
3 -4 ribs of celery (diced)
1/2 lg green pepper (diced)
12 oz. package frozen okra
1 small can Rotel (10 oz. drained) *Optional
2 tbs minced garlic
4 -5 green onions (sliced thin)
8 -10 cups water
4 tbs powdered chicken stock (or 2 stock cubes)
1 tbs Tony Chachere's
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp Italian herbs
2 tbs parsley (dried or fresh)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 - 2 tbs Louisiana Hot Sauce (your choice)

1 tsp Liquid Smoke *Optional

This Light brown Roux is just perfect.

Preparation

Prepare your Crock-Pot by spraying the inside with non-stick cooking spray.  I use a 7 quart Crock-Pot and I would estimate this recipe makes 4 to 5 quarts. Make sure your Crock-Pot is big enough for this recipe or else you might need to cut back on the amounts listed, or even cut the recipe in half. 

Combine the oil and flour in a cast iron skillet (or similar skillet) and stir constantly, on high, until you have achieved a light brown roux. You do not want a really, really dark mahogany roux, for this recipe it needs to be the color of light chocolate.

Once you have the roux finished, turn off the heat, add your onions, and stir them in and let them cook in the roux for five minutes. You need to let this cool just a bit and transfer it into your Crock-Pot.

Now add all of your celery, green bell pepper, garlic, and green onions (reserve a quarter cup of green onions for garnish). Dissolve the powdered chicken stock in a cup of water. Add this and 8 more cups of water to your Crock-Pot. Stir well to combine the water with the roux, making sure it is dissolved well.

Break your rotisserie chicken down and remove all the bones, skin, fat, and cartilage from the meat.  Give the meat a rough chop, but don't mince it up too fine.  Put this nice chicken meat into the Crock-Pot and stir it well.  Add the rest of your ingredients to the pot give it a really good stir and put the lid on it. I let mine cook for one hour on HI, then I turn it down to LOW and cook for seven more hours.

Serve this gumbo with white rice and garnish with the remaining green onions. If you are able to get filé powder, add 1 tablespoon to this recipe.

If you guys like this recipe, let me know.  I might post my Red Beans recipe for you.  My next post will be about my buddy Eric, who is a Red Bean fanatic, he has a wonderful blog and a crockpot cookbook you guys need to download.  I'll try to get Eric's post lined up next week maybe.