Who you callin GUMBO?

Thats the best almost clever title I can come up with...sorry. If it's not clear by the oh-so-clever title, I made gumbo for dinner. My best friend has been talking about her mardi gras themed birthday for a few days and this has had me craving good ol' cajun food. Since I don't think we have any cajun restaurants around Odessa, I thought I'd try my hand at it.

I've never made gumbo before and honestly it confuses me. I've had gumbo that has been roux based and gumbo that is more soup like. I know I have friends who could tell me the difference, so I'll be finding out soon. Yes I could google it, but why do that when I could talk food with a friend?

OK, back to my gumbo...

Since I've never made it before, I decided to trust my wannabe fairy godmother. I went to foodnetwork.com and looked at what Paula Deen had available and decided to make her gumbo. I cut the recipe down by half and it turned out pretty well! I was really unsure about the roux. In case you are, too, a roux the thickening base for the soup. What Paula had me do (like how I sound like she came over?!) was cook my chicken and sausage separately in my pot. When they have both cooked, you add flour to the oil and mix it up, then add butter to the pan, too. It makes kind of a paste and you cook that until it turns brown. I know that this sounds simple, but mine never really turned brown...I don't know what the deal was. I actually almost gave up on it and turned dinner into Chili's, but I stuck with it!

I'm really glad I stuck with it, because it turned out quite delicious! I threw some rice on top and made some amazing cornbread and this was an all around good meal. I recommend that you look her recipe up and try it.

Look how pretty it was!


Happy Cooking and Happy Mardi Gras y'all!

amy

p.s. my dad would appreciate it if you clicked on a link or two to check out the sponsors. the more money I make here, the less he has to pay me to do his bills. :) thanks!