Fat Tuesday’s coming up this week, so the only soup I could possibly consider is a gumbo. I’ve made a few gumbos, but never as good as the ones I’ve had at the Gumbo Shack in New Orleans French Quarter. The weather here in Alexandria is a fine early spring rain, with plenty of buds on the tree outside my window. I’ve got Zydeco on Pandora and andouille sausage in the pan. The only thing that could be better would be if I was in the Big Easy sipping coffee with chicory at Cafe du Monde on the bank of the Mississippi.

This is a simple gumbo, made from the Louisiana Holy Trinity, Onion, celery, and bell peppers, with sausage and chicken, garlic and Zatarain’s seasoning. Oh, and of course a roux made from flour and oil and stirred over medium heat until it’s the color of lightly roasted coffee.

Ingredients, In order of appearance:

• 3 qt water
• 2 tbsp Better Than Bullion Chicken Base
• 2 lbs chicken thighs, skinned and boned
• 3-4 cups chopped green pepper (two large)
• 3-4 cups chopped onion (two large)
• 1/2 cup minced garlic
• 3 tbsp Zatarains’s Creole Seasoning
• 2 lbs andouille sausage
  (I used Smithfield’s which had a nice tang to it)
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1 cup white flour
• 4 cups cooked sticky white rice
  (we use Nishiki rice, which is perfect for ladeling soup over, or making sushi with)

I start out with three quarts of water, and despite the drubbing I got on the Kojo Nnamde show last week, two generous tablespoons of “Better than Bullion Chicken Base”. I’ve got nothing against making stock from scratch, mind you, but this works fine. Just to show I’m a good sport, I toss in the two pounds of chicken thighs and four bay leaves and bring the whole thing to a boil while I chop up the vegetables.

The stock smells great about now, by the way.

The stock, she come to a boil about halfway through chopping up the big green peppers, so I set the timer to ten minute and turn down the heat. Then I go back to chopping wit my big french knife, which she is very sharp now.

By the time I get through the second green pepper and a little more I had in the freezer I’ve got close to four cups of pepper, a bit more than I had in mind. this soup is clearly heading for the 1.5 gallon size. Not that this is a bad thing.

The timer interrupts my onion chopping, so I take out the chicken thighs and put them in a bowl to let them cool. Then I strain the broth through my mesh strainer and a layer of cheesecloth. It’s tastes very nice, cheri.

Zydeco fills the room, and them onions is makin dis boy’s eyes smart something fierce. I open the windows and let the music out and the good air in.

After the onions, I chop up a mess of garlic, about a half cup of cloves. To get the skins off, I put the cloves on the chopping board and hit them with the heel of my hand, which loosens the skin. Then I place the flat of my blade over them and hit that with the heel of my hand again, which breaks the clove up long-wise. All that’s left is a little chopping.

Out comes my heavy frying pan, and in goes a few tablespoons of canola oil, and as soon as it comes up to a medium heat, in goes the garlic, followed by the onions. All four cups of them.

After a timed five minutes the onion and garlic are nicely translucent, though I’m tempted to take them further and get some color. I don’t though cause I’ve got a lot to get into the soup yet, so into the simmering stock they go. The peppers and celery get their five minutes of flame and follow the pack into the swim of things.

Just for the fun of it, I add three tablespoons of Zatarain’s about now, turn down the simmer and clean things up for the next stage…browning the meats.

First I slice up the sausage into 1/3 in thick half moons and saute them in a tablespoon of oil until they’re getting some color. 5 min or so. Two pounds cuts up into a generous four cups and I wonder, not for the first time, how much gumbo I’m making here.

The chicken, which I chopped up into 1/3 inch squares while the sausage cooked (yes, I was in two places at once) makes another four cups, and after I remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and add it to the soup, I cook the chicken in the remaining grease, but since it’s already cooked through, only for three minutes. Then the chicken goes in and I use a cup or two of broth from the soup to deglaze the frying pan…and it goes in too.

Dang, this is getting tasty. I mean, serious tasty.

I set it on low simmer and set the timer for an hour. Normally I’d be sitting back with a glass of iced tea now and reading a book. But you may have noticed that we haven’t made the roux yet. It’s going in at the end, so it’s all part of my plan.

What isn’t part of the plan is that I just ran out of oil, so off to the store I go while the soup simmers.

Half an hour later I return to the scene of the crime, which smells great, with my bottle of olive and canola oil mix. For the next 25 minutes I stir flour and oil together over medium heat watching it turn darker shades of brown. At twenty minutes I take if off, and keep stirring until the pan has cooled down. The final color is a rich chocolate brown, not quite dark chocolate, but more than plain milk chocolate.

While the roux is cooling, I take the opportunity to skim off excess oil from the stock, using my gravy separator, a terrific gadget. All told I get about a half cup of oil back, which amounts to about 100 calories per 12 oz serving.

After the roux cools a bit, I add stock to it until I’ve got something I can pour without clumping up on me. When it’s added to the soup it’s nearly perfect, but in my heart I know I want it a little thicker. Ten minutes and another third of a cup of flour and oil each I add more roux, this time only peanut butter colored.

And I’m done.

My gal makes the rice, and since we’re off to a church supper, we pack some up for a few friends. Sampling it assures me it tastes great, and I’m really looking forward to Fat Tuesday.

Links:

• Adapted from: http://www.gumbopages.com/food/soups/chixsaus-gumbo.html
• My favorite Cajun Seasoning: Zatarain’s
• Pandora Radio: Buckwheat Zydeco