DIY Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo

Cajun cooking at it's finest made famous by Paul Prudhomme in his classic work published in 1984: Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen. We love this wonderful dish! We've enjoyed cooking it so many times over the years. We continue to modify it to cut the saturated fats, increase the heat and in general fit it to our palettes. If you like thick, rich, gumbo with a sense of heat, you'll love this recipe. We make it with Andouille sausage hand-made at the local Co-Op, organic boneless skinless chicken breasts and serve it over organic rice.

Serves: about 4 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 60 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
2 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
12 oz andouille sausage, cut into ¼” rounds
3 cups chicken broth
¾ cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 large yellow onion, coarse chopped
1 medium pasilla or poblano pepper, coarse chopped
4 stalks celery, sliced 1/" crosswise
6 cloves garlic, sliced thin
2 red jalapenos, seeded and coarse chopped; green can be substituted
1 pinch red pepper flakes
2-3 tablespoons peanut oil
1 1/2 cups regular long grain white rice
Salt to bring out flavors, fresh ground pepper to taste and

PREPARATION:
1. Cut chicken into bite size pieces; cut sausage into ¼” rounds.
2. Combine flour, pepper and garlic powder in a 1 gallon plastic bag; add the chicken pieces and shake until coated. Reserve the excess flour for making the roux.
3. Chop the onions, peppers and celery and set aside. Slice the garlic and set aside.
4. Pour oil into a 5 ½ Q Dutch oven. Place oven over medium heat, add chicken and sauté until golden brown. Reserve chicken.
5. Add sausage to Dutch oven and cook until brown all over. Reserve sausage.
6. Add the vegetables and red pepper flakes and sauté for about 5 minutes while scraping the bits off the bottom of the oven with a wooden spatula. In the last minute, add the sliced garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Reserve the vegetable mixture.
7. Pour off all but about ½ cup of the oil in the Dutch oven. On medium heat, whisk in a little flour at a time, stirring constantly until you get a thick chocolate brown roux.
8. Place the Dutch oven on a simmer plate and slowly whisk the chicken broth into the roux over medium-low heat; then add the vegetables, chicken and sausage and simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes. Watch the liquid level and cover or add a little chicken stock if drying out too much. Sauce should be on the thick side.
9. About half way through the simmering, add the rice to 3 ½ cups boiling water and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

PLATING:
1. Place rice in shallow bowl or deep plate.
2. Spoon gumbo onto rice.
3. Serve with salt, freshly ground pepper and your favorite hot sauce at table.

Try this if you're in the mood for some down home cookin'.

Bon appetit,
Tom and Anita