Best Its So Easy Its Cheating Gumbo Recipes

AUTHENTIC NEW ORLEANS STYLE GUMBO

Steps:

• Make the Roux*: In a large, heavy bottom stock pot combine flour and oil. Cook on medium-low heat, stirring constantly for 30-45 minutes. This part takes patience--when it's finished it should be as dark as chocolate and have a soft, "cookie dough" like consistency. Be careful not to let it burn! Feel free to add a little more flour or oil as needed to reach this consistency.
• Brown the sausage. In a separate skillet on medium-high heat place the sausage slices in one layer in the pan. Brown them well on one side (2-3 minutes) and then use a fork to flip each over onto the other side to brown. Remove to a plate.
• Cook the vegetables in broth. Add 1/2 cup of the chicken broth to the hot skillet that had the sausage to deglaze the pan. Pour the broth and drippings into your large soup pot.
• Add remaining 5 1/2 cups of chicken broth. Add veggies, parsley, and roux to the pot and stir well.
• Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 5-7 minutes, or until the vegetables are slightly tender. (Skim off any foam that may rise to the top of the pot.) Stir in cajun seasoning, to taste.
• Add meat. Add chicken, sausage, and shrimp.
• Taste and serve. At this point taste it and add more seasonings to your liking--salt, pepper, chicken bullion paste, garlic, more Joe's stuff or more chicken broth--until you reach the perfect flavor. Serve warm over rice. (Tastes even better the next day!)

EASY SAUSAGE AND SHRIMP GUMBO

Steps:

• Cook and stir oil and flour in a skillet over medium heat until mixture is thick and the color of peanut butter, about 20 minutes.
• Stir onion, green bell pepper, and celery into flour mixture; cook and stir until softened, about 5 minutes. Add sausage; cook and stir until browned, about 5 minutes. Add Cajun seasoning, garlic, and black pepper; cook and stir until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
• Pour chicken stock over vegetable-sausage mixture; reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Add shrimp and cook until shrimp are pink and cooked through, about 10 minutes.