Bongo's Gumbo

Ingredients:

whole fryer chicken cut up (bones and skin intact)
1 package new orleans style smoked sausages (about 12-16 oz)
1 really big or 2 medium onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
3-4 ribs celery, chopped
5-6 large cloves, chopped
1 cup veggie oil
1 cup plain flour
creole seasoning
chicken broth ( I used 80 oz swanson's low sodium)
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
salt/pepper
1-2 lbs chopped okra

Step one: chop up your pepper, onion, celery, and garlic.

Step two: season liberally the chicken on both sides, chop sausage into disks, set aside






Step three: in a heavy, cast iron pan, heat to just smoking 1 cup veggie oil. When you see a whisp of smoke, carefully add in and stir the flour. It will bubble up and be very very careful you don't splash it on you. Stir (with a whisk or wooden spoon, I usually employ both) until it is about a shade darker than peanut butter. You can drop the heat to medium. DO NOT LEAVE IT FOR A SECOND!!!! Add in the veggies and move to a cool burner. The residual heat from the pan will continue to darken the roux and cook the veggies. I add in about 1/2 tsp salt and the thyme at this point. Stir it frequently, more at the start, less as it starts to cool.

Step four: Put your big, huge soup pot on the hot burner, heat up a tablespoon or so of veg oil, and in two batches, brown your chicken pieces. Pour off the excess oil/fat and brown the sausage.

Step five: add in the chicken broth and the chicken pieces. Let the broth come to just a simmer and very carefully add in the roux and veggies. I added in another sprinkle of salt and several grinds of black pepper at this point. Bring to a boil, drop to a simmer, and cover. Cook about an hour or so.







Step six: remove the chicken pieces and let cool a bit. Turn off the gumbo. When you can handle the chicken pieces with gloved hands, remove the meat and shread it. Toss the fat, skin, bones, icky bits. Add chicken back into gumbo. As the gumbo has cooled, you may find a layer of fat has risen to the top. Feel free to skim it off before adding in the chicken/okra. Turn heat back on, bring to a light boil and add in okra. Drop heat to simmer, cook okra 20-30 minutes. Serve over rice. Gumbo gets better if you let it sit in the frig a day or two. And, you may want to invite an army of spider monkeys over to eat, because you'll have enough to feed them.