Louisiana Chicken File Gumbo Recipes

LOUISIANA CHICKEN GUMBO

Steps:

• Combine flour and salt in a plastic or paper bag.
• Add chicken pieces, close bag, and shake to coat well.
• Heat oil in a large, heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
• Shake excess flour from chicken and place in hot oil, cook until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes.
• Remove chicken from pot and set aside.
• Add onion, celery, green onion, and garlic to pot and cook 5 minutes, stirring often.
• Return chicken to pot.
• Stir in broth, tomatoes, bay leaf, and TABASCO Sauce and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add okra and cook 10 minutes longer.
• Serve in bowls and top each serving with a scoop of rice.

FILE CHICKEN GUMBO

Steps:

• To make chicken stock, place all ingredients into 8-quart stockpot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, skimming impurities off the top. Remove chicken pieces. Allow chicken to cool, remove meat from bones, and then return bones to stock. Reserve chicken meat for the gumbo. Continue to simmer stock for additional 2 1/2 hours.
• To make gumbo, begin by heating oil in a large pot (preferably an enameled cast iron or other heavy-bottomed pot) and cooking garlic, onions, peppers, and celery until soft and translucent. Add sausage, tomatoes, tomato paste, and stock. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer and add okra and reserved cooked chicken meat. Season with hot pepper sauce, cayenne, salt, pepper, and file. Simmer for 1 hour until flavors meld together. Stir in chopped parsley. Serve over hot rice and garnish with julienned scallions.

LOUISIANA CHICKEN FILE GUMBO

Steps:

• Season chicken with salt, thyme, pepper, and cayenne.
• In an iron soup pot, heat oil over medium high heat until hot, then fry chicken until golden brown.
• Pour excess oil out of pot, and reserve for roux.
• Add onions, celery, and garlic to the pot with the chicken, and cook, uncovered, over low heat until onions are wilted.
• Season flour with Creole seasoning.
• In a heavy iron pot, heat the reserved oil over medium heat to make roux.
• When oil is hot, stir flour in gradually.
• Lower heat to very low, and cook to desired darkness - golden brown to chocolate brown, stirring constantly (It is VERY important that you continue stirring constantly).
• Pour excess oil off the top to prevent the gumbo from being too rich.
• Slowly stir in water, dissolving roux.
• Add the water to the chicken mixture.
• Allow to boil over medium low heat until meat is tender.
• Serve in soup bowls with rice.
• Just before serving sprinkle parsley and a dash of file on each serving.

CHICKEN & SAUSAGE FILE GUMBO

Steps:

• Put the chicken in a pot and add enough water just to cover. Boil just until done.
• Remove the chicken from the pot, reserving the liquid. When the chicken cools enough to handle, remove the skin, take the meat off the bones and cut into bite sized pieces. Set aside.
• Melt the butter and oil in a large pot over medium high heat, then add the flour. Cook, stirring constantly, until it is a medium brown, lowering the heat to avoid burning, if necessary.
• Add the sausage, ham, onions, bell pepper, and garlic. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes.
• Add about 2 cups of the reserved chicken broth, the chicken, and all seasonings except the file powder. Stir in the rest of the reserved chicken broth.
• Bring to a boil, then simmer for one hour, uncovered.
• Remove from the heat, stir in the file powder, then let stand for 5 minutes.
• Serve over steamed rice.

FILé GUMBO

Steps:

• Cook chicken if it's not already cooked. Leftovers work fine for this. Set aside.
• Place sausage in a large stockpot over medium high heat, and cook until lightly browned, and some oil is released. Set aside with chicken.
• Add 2 tbsp oil to pot, and saute onion, bell pepper, and celery until soft. Add garlic in the last few minutes. Set vegetables aside with chicken and sausage, wipe stockpot to remove any vegetable pieces.
• Add 1/4 cup oil to pot, and allow to heat over medium until it starts to "shimmer". Add flour, and cook, stirring constantly until the flour and oil mixture takes on a rich brown color. If I'm using sausage or ham, I like to do a chocolate colored roux, for seafood and poultry, I like a caramel color. Use your own judgment.
• When your roux is as you like it, add the chicken broth (You may sub seafood broth, or turkey stock, depending on your ingredients) stir constantly while adding broth to avoid lumps. You should have something resembling a thin gravy.
• Add meats and vegetables back to pot, add cajun seasoning. (I like Tony Chachere's, but you can use any kind you like. If this ingredient is not available in your area, several good ones have been posted to Zaar.).
• Simmer your gumbo for half an hour, or more if you like, keeping the heat low to avoid breaking the roux. This gives time for the flavors to mingle. If you're using a delicate shellfish, like shrimp, add it later in the simmer to avoid toughening it.
• When ready to serve, add hot sauce and filé, stir well, and ladle over a bowl of rice. Keep the filé, hot sauce, and Cajun seasoning out on the table, so diners may add more of any they like. This is wonderful accompanied by a loaf of crusty French bread and a crisp salad.