First Blog: Gumbo

Blogging is way to much like a diary for me so today you just get the recipe (and some of the fun I had making it):

So I started off with a Bobby Flay recipe for Shellfish and Andouille Gumbo (Jason says it's "un-doo-ey" not "an-doo-eel")I had defrosted some chicken thighs so, naturally, those were going in. I mixed Bobby Flay's ingredients with things I think should be in Gumbo and took out the things I didn't feel like buying. Except okra. I don't know what an okra is but I'm pretty sure I don't like it. :)

Bastardized Gumbo

Broth:
Olive Oil (2 turns of the pan)
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 sweet red pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed and chopped
1 dried chili pepper, seeds removed and chopped (I'm not sure what type of pepper it was, my best guess is the chili pepper)
2 stalks celery, chopped (or you can chop 3 like I did, realize you've cut too many, and try to throw away 1/3 of them.
2 carrots, chopped (mine were the most massive ones they had at Rorabeck's)
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped

I sauteed this together until soft, about 15 min.

Roux:
1 stick butter
1/2 cup flour

Next, I melted 1 stick of butter over medium heat. I added 1/2 cup of flour to this to make a caramel colored roux. Once the roux had cooked a bit, I mixed in the chopped, sauteed veggies. This ended up being a beautiful paste that smelled amazing. It was like butter and garlic, and butter, and peppers, and butter and vegetables...well, you get the idea.

Meats(?) and Broth:
1 long link (I have no idea how many lbs it was) of Andouille sausage cut into 1/2 in slices
4 chicken thighs (skinless, boneless if you're smart or a fabulous fiance to do this for you) cut into chunks
24 little neck clams (or clammys, as they are called here.)
8 cups chicken broth

Ideally, you have everything ready to go like they do on the Food Network and you are effortlessly pouring sumptuous ingredients from one pot to another. This, however, is not how it happened for me.
I pulled the veggie roux off the heat long enough to de-bone my chicken (and by that I mean have Jason de-bone it for me), chop it up, and chop the Andouille sausage. The recipe calls for the meat to be cooked in the gumbo. This looked ok for the sausage, but I sauteed the chicken first. Just a few minutes in a pan with some olive oil to make sure I wouldn't be giving anybody salmonella tonight.

What I failed to do before preparing the meats was bring the required 2 quarts of chicken broth to a boil. After some mad scrambling and the help of my friend Senor Google (to figure out that 2 quarts is 8 cups. Hey, I teach reading and writing, NOT math!) I put the broth to boil. Once the broth was boiling (or almost, kinda, about to boil in my case) I poured it into the veggie roux. I mixed the whole thing up and brought it to a boil (yes, this time it did boil). Once that was boiling, I took it back down to a simmer (back and forth, back and forth...) and added in the sauteed, salmonella-free chicken, and raw (but looked like it would cook in the gumbo) Andouille sausage. 1/2 a teaspoon of thyme (I am laughing at you if you think I measured this) and a bit of fresh ground pepper later, I covered up that bad boy and let it cook.

Don't worry! I didn't forget the clammys.
Ok, about the clams-and I did get this part right-before I even started cooking, when gumbo was just a gleam in my eye, I had to get them ready. I soaked the clammys in a large pot of iced salted water for a few hours. This is supposed to keep them from being gritty and help them to open up. It's worked for me so far. :)

Wrapping it up:
Once the Gumbo had cooked (covered)for about 25 min, I popped in the drained clammys. The lid went back on and the whole thing cooked for about 10 more minutes. The clammys opened up and, VIOLA! It came out really well! I served mine with a side of Casava Chips and Magic Hat #9.

Feel free to try it, change it, gripe about it. Try not to step on your puppy's leg when running around like a madwoman in the kitchen. Enjoy!

P.S. I totally saved some for you Christy