I've joined an on line cooking community called The Daring Kitchen. Each month they post a challenge and then on the 14th of the following month all the participants reveal their creations/recipes/pictures on their blogs.
Our May hostess, Denise, of There’s a Newf in My Soup!, challenged The Daring Cooks to make Gumbo! She provided us with all the recipes we’d need, from creole spices, homemade stock, and Louisiana white rice, to Drew’s Chicken & Smoked Sausage Gumbo and Seafood Gumbo from My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh.
Even though I live in the land of seafood, I decided to try chicken and sausage first. Hilary acted as my sous-chef, helping to cut up the chicken since I'm not quite ready to go that far in my quest to cook. Gumbo is fairly straight forward without too many ingredients. We could not find File powder or Andouille sausage, but I think it turned out just fine without either of them. And so far those who have tasted my Gumbo seem to agree.
The Holy Trinity of Gumbo - onion, green pepper and celery
All the ingredients ready to go.
The longest part of making Gumbo is making the Roux. I used canola oil for my fat and it took about 20 minutes to get the rich dark colour that I wanted.
Ready to simmer.
Okra is used as a thickener. It adds nice flavour as well.
The final dish. Chicken and sausage Gumbo, served over rice.
The following weekend I set out to make the seafood and sausage gumbo. This time my roux darkened up much faster, and may have even been a bit burnt. It had a very strong smell and flavour. The combination of the roux and the sausage seemed to overpower the delicate flavour of the lobster stock that I used.
I combined lobster, scallop and shrimp since I really dislike prawns (yes I know they are really just shrimp, I just don't like my food looking at me while I eat it!)
The final dish.
I would definitely like to try the seafood version again, with a strong fish stock and a lighter roux. Overall though, it was still pretty good. I can't wait to find out what the next challenge will be.
13 comments:
Both look delicious, I love the photo of the lobster and your final results are mouthwatering. Great job!
Thanks for stopping by!
Firstly, I am jealous of you living in the land of seafood. Being from Toronto (the land of no fresh seafood), this sounds like a magical, mythical place.
Both of your gumbos look great! I understand how the combination of flavours could overpower a delicate stock.
Great job with both of your gumbos. Welcome to the daring kitchen, and I hope you have s much fun with the next challenge!
Welcome to the Daring Kitchen! Great job on your first challenge. The seafood gumbo looks especially divine.
I felt like the dish had powerful flavors too so I can understand how it overpowered your lobster stock!!! Your gumbo looks great though! Well done!
Andy, this looks wonderful!!! So glad you've joined the Daring Kitchen! :)
Great job on your gumbo, it looks delicious! :)
They both looks so delicious yes seafood needs a lighter roux I think well done on this challenge. Great job I love the crawfish.
Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.
Yum! Both your gumbos look great...and kudos to you for making both!
T.
Your seafood gumbo looks delicious. The lobster photo is a kick! Thanks for adding the tips of what you may do differently next time... I found them very helpful.
looks delish! Is gumbo one of those things that tastes better the next day or does everything become mucky?
(Assuming, of course, you had leftovers! Based on those pics I'd eat until it was gone or until I was so full I felt like throwing up...which I'd do simply to make room for more.)
And how much are you enjoying the cooking?
They both look wonderful but I vote for the seafood one. Sorry though the rest overpowered it though. I just have trouble imagining sausage with seafood. Wish I had such easy access to seafood too :-)
Great job! I am envious of your fresh seafood. I spent 2 months in Granville Ferry in 2007 and quickly became accustomed to having lovely fresh fish and seafood. Thanks for visiting my blog.
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