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This Gumbo is a turkey and sausage gumbo.  It's a good base.  You can always add shrimp,  or crawfish, or whatever.  If ya can get some whole blue crab,  you can break em in half and put em in the gumbo.  They're alot of fun to eat. 
 
 
 
I make my own stock,  then put it in milk jugs and freeze it.  I make the stock by boiling a couple small chickens with a mess of carrots, celery, onion, gahlic, green peppers.  I boil em in a HUGE pot for a very very long time.  Till the meat just falls off the chicken.  Then I take the chicken out,  pick the meat and freeze it.   That chicken makes wonderful chicken salad and even better chicken and dumplins.  Strain the chunks out of the broth.  Then get a clean kitchen towel or cheese cloth and strain the broth through that.  You'll be left with wonderful clear chicken broth.  Make lots of it and freeze it,  'cause it's really a pain in the ass to make.  But it tastes so much better. 
 
Ok now for the Gumbo.
 
Ingredients.
 
  1. 1 cup oil
  2. 1 cup flour
  3. 1 lb of Okra cut (if you can't get fresh,  then frozen is fine.)
  4. 1 large green pepper   
  5. 1 onion   
  6. about 40 cloves of gahlic  (ha ha.....actually I use 4 or 5)
  7. 2 lbs of turkey breast
  8. 2 lbs of sausage. 
    ( you can use any sausage,  but if you can get Andouille it's the best for gumbo.  it gives it a bit of a kick)
  9. 1 lb of cubed ham
  10. oregano
  11. 3 Bay Leaves
  12. Creole seasoning. 
    (otherwise known as BAM or essence,  I use "Tony Chacheres"  I'd bet you can find it in Chicago,  it's a must really)
  13. Fresh parsley
  14. Cayenne pepper. (optional...use only if you wish a harder kick)
 
 
chop yer vegetables
I usually cook the meat off on the grill first.  Makes much better gumbo.  After the meat is cooked and cooled somewhat,  cut it into one inch cubes.
 
In a soup pot (typical size 6 quart I reckon) put the oil in and bring it up to heat.  Add the flour. 
 
Stir and cook the oil and flour till it is a rich dark chocolate brown.  Your kitchen should smell like popcorn.  Ya gotta pay some attention to this and not let it sit too long without stirriin it.  You want dark chocolate brown Roux,  but not burnt roux.  This could take 20 or 30 minutes.
 
While that's cookin....put yer Okra in a skillet with a bit of olive oil and fry it off.  You can even add a bit of white vinegar (I use about 2 or 3 capfuls).  This takes the sliminess out of the Okra. 
 
Once the Roux is finished and still hot,  add the onion,  green pepper and gahlic and sweat them off in the roux.  
Then add the Okra.
Fill the pot up 'bout halfway with chicken broth and stir till the roux is dissolved in the broth.  Add yer spices to taste.  I usually put in initially about 1.5 tablespoons of oregano,  and 1.5 tablespoons of Creole seasoning and all three bay leaves.  I add more later if it needs it.  Three bay leaves usually do the trick. 
 
Add all the meat,  then top off with broth.
 
Simmer till the meat is tender and has taken on all the gumbo flavor.  Skim fat off the top as you go along.  Ton's of oil rises to the top. 
 
When the gumbo's ready....boil some rice.   Don't make sticky rice.  Cook the rice just like you would Pasta.  Boil the rice in lot's of salted water,  then when it's done cookin drain and rinse just like you would pasta.  This makes a much firmer rice kernel.
 
Serve with rice and sweet potato salad. 
 
To make sweet potato salad,  just make potato salad the same way you would regular potato salad, except use sweet potato's.  I'd cook the taters on the grill with the meat to make the salad with.
 
This is alot of food....so I'd suggest having hungry friends over and have plenty of ice cold beer. 
 
Lemme know how ya like it!!

 

Dave