Cajun Vegetable Gumbo Recipes

CAJUN CHICKEN AND SAUSAGE GUMBO

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. When hot, whisk in flour. Continue whisking until the roux has cooked to the color of chocolate milk, 8 to 10 minutes. Be careful not to burn the roux. If you see black specks in the mixture, start over.
• Stir onion, bell pepper, celery, and sausage into the roux; cook 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook another 5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and Creole seasoning; blend thoroughly. Pour in the chicken broth and add the bay leaf. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Stir in the chicken, and simmer 1 hour more. Skim off any foam that floats to the top during the last hour.

CAJUN VEGETABLE GUMBO

Steps:

• Place the greens in a large soup pot with enough water to just cover the greens. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes. Drain, reserving 2 cups of the cooking water.
• On a cutting board, coarsely chop the greens and set aside.
• In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, whisk 1/4 cup oil and the flour together and cook, stirring constantly, until the roux is a dark reddish-brown, about 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
• In the large soup pot, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and sauté the onions, bell pepper, celery, and tomatoes for about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are wilted.
• Add the hot sauce, bay leaves, file powder, cayenne, thyme, oregano, basil, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper and cook for 5 minutes.
• Add the roux, vegetable or faux chicken broth, and the reserved greens-cooking water, stirring well to blend in the roux.
• Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Add the cooked collard greens, okra, kidney beans, and rice and cook for 5 minutes.
• Remove the bay leaves and serve warm.

CAJUN GUMBO

Steps:

• Boil chicken pieces in 1 gallon of lightly salted water for approximately 1 hour, or until done. Reserve the chicken broth for the base of the gumbo.
• Wash okra and dry with a paper towel. Cut off the ends of the okra and slice into round pieces. Saute the pieces in a skillet with 1/2-cup of the butter until all of the slime has left the okra. This takes 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. You must stir the okra throughout this process to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
• Saute the onion, green pepper, and celery in remaining 1/2-cup butter until lightly browned. Place the cooked okra and onion mixture into the chicken broth. Add the basil, thyme, bay leaves, and garlic to the broth. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 15 minutes.
• Remove skin and bones from chicken, and cut into bite sized pieces, and set aside. Add the chicken, sausage, and ham to the broth at the same time. Return mixture to a boil. Add the shrimp and crabmeat, and cook for another 5 minutes. Season with file, black pepper, and hot pepper, to taste.
• Serve with rice.

AUTHENTIC CAJUN GUMBO

Steps:

• Place the first 11 ingredients in a stockpot; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1-1/2 hours., Remove chicken and allow to cool. Strain broth, discarding vegetables; skim fat. Remove meat from bones; cut chicken into bite-size pieces and set aside. Discard bones., In the same pan, cook and stir oil and flour over medium heat until caramel-colored, about 14 minutes (do not burn). Add finely chopped onion; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Gradually stir in broth. Bring to a boil., Carefully stir in sausage and reserved chicken. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Stir in okra and oysters. Simmer, uncovered, 10-15 minutes longer or just until okra is tender. Stir in file powder. Serve with rice.

VEGETABLE GUMBO

Steps:

• Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring, until golden, about 3 minutes. Add the onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, 3 tablespoons water and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables soften, about 8 minutes.
• Add the soy sauce and paprika and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Stir in the vegetable broth, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot, then cover and bring to a boil.
• Add the greens and black-eyed peas to the pot. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with the rice, if desired.

REAL CAJUN SEAFOOD GUMBO (FROM A LOUISIANIAN)

Steps:

• In a 7-quart cast iron dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat.
• Sprinkle in flour and, using a wire whisk, stir constantly until brown roux is achieved. Do not allow roux to scorch. Should black specks appear in roux, discard and begin again.
• Once roux is golden brown, add onions, celery, bell pepper and garlic. Sauté approximately 3-5 minutes or until vegetables are wilted.
• Add andouille, blend well into vegetable mixture and sauté an additional 2-3 minutes.
• Add claw crabmeat and stir into roux. This will begin to add seafood flavor to the mixture.
• Slowly add hot shellfish stock, one ladle at a time, stirring constantly until all is incorporated.
• Bring to a low boil, reduce to simmer and cook approximately 30 minutes. Add additional stock if necessary to retain volume.
• Add green onions and parsley.
• Season to taste using salt, pepper and Louisiana Gold.
• Fold shrimp, lump crab meat, oysters and reserved oyster liquid into soup.
• Return to a low boil and cook approximately 5 minutes.
• Adjust seasonings and serve over cooked rice.

VEGETARIAN GUMBO

Steps:

• In a medium pot, whisk together oil and flour to combine. Cook over medium heat, whisking frequently, until mixture is the color of butterscotch, about 10 minutes.
• Add onion, celery, and bell pepper. Season with salt and cook, stirring, until vegetables soften, about 8 minutes. Add tomatoes and Creole seasoning; cook until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes more.
• Stir in broth, okra, squash, and peas. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes. Serve over rice, sprinkled with scallions.

REAL CAJUN GUMBO (FROM A LOUISIANAIAN)

Steps:

• Using a sharp boning knife cut the stewing hen into 8-10 serving pieces.
• Remove as much of the fat from the chicken as possible.
• Cut andouille into ½-inch slices and set aside.
• In a 2-gallon stockpot, heat oil over medium-high heat.
• Whisk in flour, stirring constantly until golden brown roux is achieved. Do not scorch. Should black specks appear, discard and begin again.
• Add onions, celery, bell pepper and garlic. Sauté 3-5 minutes or until vegetables are wilted.
• Blend in chicken and andouille. Sauté approximately 15 minutes.
• Add chicken stock, one ladle at a time, stirring constantly until all is incorporated.
• Bring to a rolling boil, reduce to simmer and cook approximately 1 hour.
• Skim any fat or oil that rises to the top of the pot.
• Add green onions, bay leaf, thyme and basil.
• Season to taste using salt, pepper and hot sauce.
• Cook an additional 30 minutes or longer if necessary, until chicken is tender and falling apart.
• Add parsley and adjust seasonings if necessary.
• Serve over hot, steamed white rice.
• NOTE: You may wish to boil the chicken 1-2 hours prior to beginning the gumbo to tenderize the meat. Reserve this stock, bone the chicken and use the meat and stock in the gumbo.