Fooooooood post!
Feb. 20th, 2010 01:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gmonkey42Student Body is going to throw a Mardi Gras theme party and I volunteered to do the food, because as you may have heard if you've been reading this journal, I love food. Someone else is taking care of the king cake and I'm doing gumbo, red beans & rice and Cajun chicken. I did a test-run of the gumbo today and it's good.
Vegetable Gumbo
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp oil (for cooking in)
- 1 medium yellow or white onion, diced
- 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, diced (or maybe a yellow one for color variety, the green one winds up looking similar to the okra)
- 1 clove garlic, minced (I always just use a garlic press)
- 1/2 of a 16oz package frozen okra
- 1 can (14.5oz) diced tomatoes (don't drain them! You'll want the juice)
- 1 14oz can vegetable broth (this results in a pretty thick stew; if you want it more soupy, use more broth)
Seasonings:
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp filé powder
- 2 bay leaves
- whatever other spices strike your fancy; add some cayenne pepper if you like it spicy.
Also:
- 2 Tbsp oil (for the roux)
- 2 Tbsp flour
Heat the oil in a big pot on medium-low, add onions, garlic, celery & peppers. Cook a few minutes until soft. Add okra, tomatoes & juice from the can, seasonings and broth. Cook on medium, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes, or 1 DVR'd episode of Family Guy plus a little American Dad. Pause American Dad and get out a frying pan for the roux. Heat oil on medium and stir in flour, cook until it's whatever darkish golden brown color it's supposed to be*. Stir roux into the simmering soup and cook about 5 minutes longer while stirring. Serve hot and come back for seconds.
I wasn't sure about including the filé, since it meant buying a whole jar of an ingredient that apparently doesn't go in anything except gumbo. I did use it. I don't know if it would have been just as good without but, like my ratatouille (how have I not posted that recipe yet? I'll post that next time I make some), this gumbo has some nicely subtle, complex flavors and I think the filé helped. But it's probably fine to leave out if you don't want to buy a special seasoning for just one recipe.
* I actually got mixed up looking up roux recipes and used butter instead of oil. This produces a lighter roux because you can't heat the butter as hot as oil. If I remember correctly from an episode of Hell's Kitchen, proper gumbo should have fairly dark roux. I'll use oil for the real one for the party.
Vegetable Gumbo
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp oil (for cooking in)
- 1 medium yellow or white onion, diced
- 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, diced (or maybe a yellow one for color variety, the green one winds up looking similar to the okra)
- 1 clove garlic, minced (I always just use a garlic press)
- 1/2 of a 16oz package frozen okra
- 1 can (14.5oz) diced tomatoes (don't drain them! You'll want the juice)
- 1 14oz can vegetable broth (this results in a pretty thick stew; if you want it more soupy, use more broth)
Seasonings:
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp filé powder
- 2 bay leaves
- whatever other spices strike your fancy; add some cayenne pepper if you like it spicy.
Also:
- 2 Tbsp oil (for the roux)
- 2 Tbsp flour
Heat the oil in a big pot on medium-low, add onions, garlic, celery & peppers. Cook a few minutes until soft. Add okra, tomatoes & juice from the can, seasonings and broth. Cook on medium, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes, or 1 DVR'd episode of Family Guy plus a little American Dad. Pause American Dad and get out a frying pan for the roux. Heat oil on medium and stir in flour, cook until it's whatever darkish golden brown color it's supposed to be*. Stir roux into the simmering soup and cook about 5 minutes longer while stirring. Serve hot and come back for seconds.
I wasn't sure about including the filé, since it meant buying a whole jar of an ingredient that apparently doesn't go in anything except gumbo. I did use it. I don't know if it would have been just as good without but, like my ratatouille (how have I not posted that recipe yet? I'll post that next time I make some), this gumbo has some nicely subtle, complex flavors and I think the filé helped. But it's probably fine to leave out if you don't want to buy a special seasoning for just one recipe.
* I actually got mixed up looking up roux recipes and used butter instead of oil. This produces a lighter roux because you can't heat the butter as hot as oil. If I remember correctly from an episode of Hell's Kitchen, proper gumbo should have fairly dark roux. I'll use oil for the real one for the party.
