AKA Abraham Bacoln

Raw gumbo

Cargado originalmente por Brother O’Mara

I realized today as I was searching for my gumbo recipe that I had not yet posted it to kevinomara.com so here we go again. I’m lazy, so I’m copying and pasting the old entry from my last blog. Nothing’s changed, it’s still delicious.

This comes to you today because this is a great way to get rid of an entire pound of leftover turkey, especially the dark meat. If you’ve still got some turkey left then now you know what to do.

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Here it is, folks, my favorite of my recipes of all time ever. Now I know I told you how much I love the sausage casserole but that’s not technically my recipe. This one is. It’s nothing special, really, just a standard gumbo, but it’s mine. The first time I went to make gumbo I couldn’t find a recipe online that I liked so I just took the best parts and directions from a couple of sources and made basically this. A bit of time and testing has perfected it, and here you have it.

I love this recipe. I share it with everyone. It is my personal signature dish and I wish the internet had Smell-o-vision so I could waft it towards you as you read.

Sometimes it’s hard to find the right kind of sausage depending on where you live. During difficult shopping trips I have fallen back on kielbasa or “Louisiana Hot Sausage” but if at all possible, man, get some andouille. It is pretty much necessary to make this dish as it should be.

Kevin O’Mara’s Gumbo Recipe:

STOCK:
6 cups stock – whether from chicken or bouillon, doesn’t matter. I usually do it out of the water in which I boiled the chicken plus some bouillon.

ROUX:
1 cup vegetable oil or shortening
1 cup flour

FIRST VEGETABLES:
2 onions (diced)
2 green bell peppers (diced)
2-3 long sticks celery (diced)
2 big tomatoes or 4 small tomatoes (diced)

SECOND VEGETABLES:
1/2 lb okra (sliced)
1 bunch green onions (diced)
1/2 bunch parsley (diced)
12 cloves or 1 pod garlic (diced)

MEATS:
1 lb andouille sausage (sliced)
1 lb chicken (boiled and hand-shredded (with fork))

SPICES:
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tbsp red (cayenne) pepper
1 tbsp hot sauce
2 bay leaves

RICE:
Usually 2 cups (pre-cooked) is sufficient.
2 cups rice
4 cups water

In the beginning:
Create stock.

To make the roux:
Heat oil in skillet to medium high. Add a little flour, whisk until dissolved. Use s-shaped or sine-wave-shaped whisking motion, not circular. Continue adding flour bit by bit until it’s all in, whisking constantly. Continue to whisk until the roux has taken on a dark brown color. If black flecks appear you have burned the roux and must start over. Sorry. No way to save a burned roux.

Add first vegetables, stock, meat, spices:
Remove roux from heat. Add first vegetables (onion, bell pepper, celery, and tomatoes). Use the residual heat from the roux to sautee the vegetables, mixing well. Place vegetables in pot.

Note: I have stopped cooking the roux in a skillet and transferring it to a pot. Because I’m tall enough to do it comfortably I make it in the pot, but you might not be able to reach down in there and whisk the whole time without making your wrist sore. It’s up to you.

Turn to medium-high heat, add stock, andouille, chicken, and spices. Bring to boil and then lower to simmer. Cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Add second vegetables:
After one hour of simmering, add second vegetables (okra, green onions, parsley, and garlic). Cook for 10 minutes or until okra is soft.

Serve over a bed of hot white rice.

That, my friends, will produce an awesome gumbo. I hope you make it and love it.

I don’t have much to say other than it’s been cold lately (or what passes for late Autumn cold in the south) and that means it’s time to dust off that old crockpot and start making something hot and hearty. Today’s recipe is a modification of one by an old family friend. I got ready to make it the usual way and while I was in the grocery store I decided to spice it up just a hair, so here you go.

Tasty B. Rhea Memorial Beef Soup as Modified by Kevin L. O’Mara, Esq.

You gonna need:
1 lb stew beef, browned
28 oz. can peeled crushed tomatoes
1 14oz. can corn, drained
1 14oz. can green beans, drained
1 14oz. can chicken broth
1 large potato, chopped
1/2 white onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, finely diced
1/2 tbsp black pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp Sriracha pepper
salt to taste

There aren’t really instructions to this, but here goes:

1.) Put the stew beef chunks in a skillet to brown with a little oil and salt and pepper.
2.) Put the tomatoes, corn, green beans, broth, and potato in the crockpot and put it on high.
3.) While the beef is still cooking use another skillet to cook the onions and garlic until the onion is translucent.
4.) When all the things that are cooking in skillets are done put them into the crockpot.
5.) The spices are really up to you – this is just a list of what I used today.
6.) Let it cook until the potatoes are soft and there you go.

Now if you’ll exCUSE me I have some soup to check on.

EDIT: Apparently I am a genius. For starters, if you don’t yet have any Sriracha in your house you have to go buy some now. Anyway, as mentioned above I used some to give the soup just a little kick. I ate one bowl just like this and it was great – BUT for my second bowl I used my diabolical fantastical idea. After filling the bowl I stirred in just a touch of heavy cream, just enough to turn the soup red-orange instead of bright red. The extra richness became a perfect counterbalance to the heat of the peppers and brought the whole thing up a level. I highly recommend going that route.