OKRA IMPLIES GUMBO

Every time I go to the farmer’s market I get dazzled by the array of odd things to buy, and inevitably end up getting the safest, most recognizable items I can (carrots, corn, tomatoes) as quickly as I can and then running away. Sometimes I decide that No, today I shall experiement, and this is how I ended up with a bag of okra in my fridge.

Okra is a weird little pod-like veggie with sticky goo inside that’s useful for thickening soups and stews. The only thing I could think to put it in off-hand was gumbo, so I scoured the web for some recipes, bought some Andouille sausage, thawed some chicken, and set to work. There are about a billion recipes out there, and none of them seemed to exactly meet my needs, so I sort of just winged it based on the general ideas I found out there: brown meat, saute veggies, make roux, combine with liquid, simmer for at least an hour. Went something like this:

Ingredients (to serve 2):

1 large Andouille sausage
1 chicken breast
1/2 – 1 cup finely chopped okra
1/2 – 1 cup finely chopped sweet pepper (bell, weird colorful chile, whatever)
1/2 – 1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 – 1 cup finely chopped celerey
1/8 – 1/4 stick butter
2 – 3 tbsp flour
A couple cloves of finely chopped garlic
salt
spices (chili powder, rosemary, oregano, black pepper, thyme, bay leaves)

Slice the sausage and brown it over medium heat in a deep skillet, until the meat is cooked and it has released plenty of delicious pig fat.

Meanwhile, make the roux. Melt the butter over low heat in small saucepan. Add the flour gradually until your have what looks like a smooth, thick sauce (not chunky, but not too soupy). Leave it alone, stirring occasionally, until it starts to develop a nice golden color. The deeper the color the better (uh, provided it doesn’t burn).

Remove the sausage and brown the chicken in the fat. Remove the chicken and set the meat aside. Make sure all your veggies are finely chopped and nice and uniform, and add them to the skillet (add some olive oil if the sausage fat is all used up) and turn the heat to low. You want to skill hear some sizzle but not too much. Add maybe half a tsp of salt or so and let them sweat.

Once the veggies have been sweating for 10 mins or so, add all the seasonings, the roux, and add water or stock to cover. Simmer for at least an hour, prefereably more, stirring occasionally, adding the meat back in about 20 mins before you want to eat it. Serve it up with white rice.

This actually worked out surprisingly well for me, hearty and flavorful. Been a while since I made something new successfully