It's not exactly gumbo season, but we've never exactly followed seasonal trends around here.
Growing up, Nanny made her amazing gumbo with Pop's favorite sausage when everyone was in for the holidays. The last time I remember eating it was somewhere around football season, it was early 2000 and I was wearing my Old Navy Anorak.
Totally unrelated side note... but N'Sync was my band of choice at the time. Oh those anorak days!
It came time that I finally had to get around to this recipe. Mom always said she used the Conecuh recipe, but after looking at it I realized she used their sausage but didn't follow the recipe at all.
I've made gumbo for Jeremy a few times in the past, the first time took 5 hours and I started when I got off work at 3 and thought I'd never finish. The second time I nixed making my own roux and bought pre made roux, it was disgusting. In all honestly the longer a gumbo cooks the less I want to eat it, the smell is just too strong for me personally. Jeremy on the other hand loves it like that.
After doing some digging I think I finally came up with what Nanny actually did to her gumbo.
It's not as thick as your typical Cajun gumbo, and the roux is just right. Plus if no one sees you make it you can always claim it's completely from scratch.
Nanny's Easy Weeknight Gumbo
Ingredients::
16 oz frozen Pict Sweet Cut Okra
12 oz Seasoning Blend
16 oz Conecuh Sausage, sliced
6 cups of water
2 cups of chicken stock
12 oz (3 4 oz pieces) chicken breast (or substitute peeled shrimp)
14.5 oz can of stewed tomatoes
Directions::
Combine water, stock, tomatoes with juice, and gumbo mix in a 4 quart pot and bring to a boil, stirring often to keep mix from clumping or burning. After gumbo mixture is boiling add in seasoning blend, okra, sliced sausage, and cubed chicken. Bring to a boil again, stirring often. After gumbo has come it it's second boil reduce the heat to simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes.
Serve with yellow potato salad, rice (we used brown), and green onions.
This definitely isn't from scratch, since I cheated on my roux, but it tastes amazing and can be whipped up in no time!
Next week I'll be sharing Nanny's Mexican Cornbread that I made to go with this. Not exactly traditional with gumbo, but still really yummy.
