yesterday at the studio, we celebrated fat tuesday with some gumbo, a new orleans favorite.  while most gumbos have meat or seafood in them, we did a vegetarian variation which was just as tasty.  

ingredients

1 large onion, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 bell pepper, diced (i used orange)

4 ribs of celery, diced

1 lb of okra, cut into rounds

1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes

3 cups water (may need to add more)

3 Tbsp olive oil

 1 1/2 cup vegetarian sausage or real sausage (i used a tube of gimme lean sausage)

1 tsp salt (more or less to taste)

3 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp cayenne (more or less to taste)

1/2 tsp paprika

5 bay leaves

1/4 tsp allspice

the roux

1/2 cup olive oil 

1/2 cup all purpose flour

cooked long grain white rice for serving

directions

-in a cast iron pan, brown the sausage in some olive oil.  transfer to a large stock pot and set aside

- on medium, cook the onions, peppers, in some olive oil.  you can brown them a tiny bit, gives the gumbo some smokiness.  add to stock pot

-do the same with the okra, add to the rest of the veggies and sausage

-add tomatoes, garlic, and herbs to stock pot

the roux (roux is used as a thickener and gives the gumbo depth and flavor) visit here for more info on roux

-add the flour and olive oil to the frying pan that you have been using.  you don’t need to wash it, the previous ingredients and fats and to the flavor of the roux

-turn heat to medium and stir, stir, stir making sure it does not burn. (if it does burn, start over)

-the roux will begin to darken, i stopped when roux resembled coffee with a bit of cream in it (15 minutes)  

-cool the roux a bit for 5 minutes

-add to the stock pot

-cook the gumbo for an hour or so on low to medium heat

-serve over rice

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Posted on Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 in garden to table. Tags: fat tuesday, kristen bach, mardi gras, southern food.