Tulane Chicken Andouille Gumbo

Tulane Chicken Andouille Gumbo

After browning the chicken and andouille, you brown 20 ounces of okra.

The recipe called for a whole chicken, so I thought I would test my knife and butchering skills. I’ve decided that I have no butchering skills, and we need new, sharp knives.

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A cold, rainy Sunday morning made for the perfect time to stir up a New Orleans gumbo that could simmer in the morning and then sit until that night’s dinner.

This gumbo comes from a recipe in the cookbook “New Orleans Classic Gumbos & Soups.” I’ve made three or four recipes from the book, and they have all been good. Buy the book direct from Pelican Publishing or from Amazon. The recipe is from Christopher Gromek, who was a summer assistant from Tulane University.

The gumbo features chicken, andouille and okra, which sounded like a perfect ingredient list for me, especially since I fixed a seafood gumbo last time.

The cookbook gives you a recipe for home-made chicken broth, but I relied on the store-bought kind. I also added a splash of crab boil — couldn’t resist adding something with a little more zip. And it doesn’t call for salt, but it really needs some extra seasoning. I know the judges on “Chopped” would agree with this.

The cookbook also points out that the recipe is one of the few gumbos that does not call for a roux.

1 whole raw chicken, about 3 pounds

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon Creole seasoning

1 pound andouille sausage, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds

2 10-ounce packages of frozen okra, chopped

2 quarts fresh chicken stock

1 quart water

1 large white onion, minced

1 medium green bell pepper, minced

3 celery stalks, minced

2 whole bay leaves

4 garlic cloves, minced

Gumbo file powder to taste

4 cups cooked white rice

Directions

Cut the chicken into pieces and set aside the back, gizzards and liver to make the chicken stock. (I disregarded the part about making my own stock.) Lightly dust the chicken pieces with Creole seasoning.

Using a skillet large enough to hold all the pieces without crowding, brown the chicken in the vegetable oil over medium heat. Turn the chicken pieces with tongs every few minutes to brown them evenly. After the chicken pieces have browned, remove and set aside to cool. Using the same skillet, brown the andouille slices and set aside.

Add the okra slices to the skillet and brown them. If there is not enough remaining vegetable oil in which to brown the okra, add a tablespoon of the oil to the skillet. Since frozen okra is not nearly as sticky and stringy as fresh okra, it should cook well in about 20 minutes. When the okra is cooked, pour in 1 quart of water and let the contents simmer, covered, on low heat.

Pour 2 quarts of the chicken stock into a 4-quart Dutch oven or another heavy pot. Add the onion, bell pepper, celery, bay leaves and garlic. Next, add the okra with the water and increase to heat level to bring the liquid to a rolling boil. When that boiling point is reached, reduce the heat level to moderate. Cover the pot and allow to simmer for a half hour. Then add the chicken and sausage and simmer another half hour. After the gumbo has finished cooking, discard the bay leaves.

At serving time, ladle the gumbo into the bowls over cooked rice. Pass the file powder in a small bowl. Most fans of file gumbo usually sprinkle a fairly generous pinch of the powder over the gumbo.