Shrimp & Sausage Gumbo is one of our absolute favorites around here. Just one beautiful bowl full is so rich and hearty- it’ll fill you right up and warm you straight down to the bone. It’s just a little bit spicy and a whollllllllllle lotta delicious. It’s perfect on a cold winter night… like tonight! :)

To start we’ll need 1/2 cup diced onion, 1/4 cup diced celery, and 1/4 cup diced celery. I use a mandolin slicer with a dicing blade and a cut resistant glove- I just got mine few months ago and I don’t know how I’ve lived without them! They make slicing and dicing vegetables (onions, carrots, celery, zucchini, potatoes…) a breeze- they’re done in a snap. It’s one of those items that practically lives in my dishwasher because I’m using it and washing it every night! :)

I go ahead and dice all my vegetables at once, measure out what I need, then freeze the rest in individual quart-sized freezer bags. That way I always have diced vegetables on hand for cooking- I almost always have diced celery, onion, red onion, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, carrots, and zucchini in the freezer.

Now that you’ve got your vegetables, melt 2 tbsp butter over medium-low heat in a large pot or dutch oven. When the butter starts to foam, add the onion, celery, red peppers and 1/2 tsp salt and “sweat” for 5-7 mins, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and cook 5 more mins until the onions begin to turn translucent.

Meanwhile, you’ll need 4 cups chicken stock. I prefer to just make it using chicken bouillon granules. They’re like the cubes, only you don’t have to unwrap them. I use 1 heaping tsp per cup of water, and I pour the boiling water in using another kitchen item I can’t live without- this electric tea kettle my mom gave me for Christmas! :)

Once the vegetables are soft, add the chicken stock. Add 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover.

At this point you’ll want to go ahead and start the rice- for 4 people, I do a ratio of 1 cup rice, 2 cups water, and 1 tsp salt. Add all to a sauce pan, bring to a boil, cover, and let simmer over low heat for 14-15 mins.

Now for the sausage- we’ll need 1/2 lb, sliced. My absolute favorite brand of smoked sausage is Eckrich- and since most smoked sausage only comes in 1 lb packages, I usually just go ahead and slice it all, and put the other half in the fridge for Red Beans & Rice or jambalaya later in the week. Or just go ahead and use it all in the gumbo. I won’t tell. :D

Add the smoked sausage to a skillet and then turn the heat to medium- cook, stirring occasionally until browned, about 7-10 mins. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to the gumbo. Pour off any excess fat left in the skillet.

In the same skillet, melt 2 tbsp butter. When foamy, add 2 tbsp flour and whisk until incorporated and the roux is light brown and fragrant, about 2-3 mins. Add to gumbo and stir.

Now to give the gumbo it’s distinct brown color and also to thicken it a little more, I use 1 tbsp filé power (pronounced fee-lay). Add to gumbo and stir (I use the whisk from the roux) until well incorporated.

And finally, add 3/4 lb of peeled and deveined shrimp to the gumbo. Turn off the heat, cover and allow to sit for 10 mins before serving. There will be plenty of residual heat in the pot to cook the shrimp to perfection.

Or if shrimp isn’t your thing, feel free to substitute with cooked, chopped chicken. This makes an excellent chicken & sausage gumbo! :) If making that way, I would boil 8 oz of boneless, skinless chicken breasts with 4 cups of water and 4 tsp chicken bouillon granules for 10-15 mins. Shred the chicken and reserve the 4 cups chicken broth to use in the gumbo. Then, when browning the sausage, add the chicken  for the last couple of mins, then add to gumbo with the sausage.

Either way, you can’t go wrong- it’s delicious. I can’t get enough of this gumbo! :)

© kevinandamanda.com, 2010. | Link to this post | Comment on this post | Stumble This Recipe!

I loove chicken & dumplings. I really, really love chicken & dumplings. I especially love *this* chicken and dumplings. :D It is so hearty, so, so creamy, and sooooooooooooo full of flavor, you can’t even imagine. You just have to taste it. It’s a great way to use up leftover chicken, or use up some chicken breasts you got on sale (*raises hand*), and it’s perfect when you need a warm, filling, comforting soup.

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken breasts
10  bouillon cubes
2 quarts water
2 cups bisquick
2/3 cups milk
2 tbsp butter
4 eggs
2 stalks celery
salt & pepper

(Note: If the amount of the ingredients looks different in the pictures, it’s because I’m doubling it for the blog. This recipe on the blog will serve 4 for a main dish. Sometimes I try to half it for just the two of us, but I always end up regretting it because it’s so good I want to go back for seconds!! :D)

Begin by placing chicken breasts & bouillon cubes in a large pot & cover with 2 quarts of water. I’m using bone-in, skin-on breasts tonight because Kroger had them on sale super cheap. But I’ve also used boneless/skinless breasts before too and they work just fine. :) Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20-25 mins until chicken is done. If you’re using the boneless/skinless breasts, they’ll probably be done much quicker, like after 10-15 mins.

Meanwhile, boil the eggs. I know there’s tons of different theories on how to boil an egg, but here’s what works best for me: I put the eggs in the bottom of a small pot, cover with water, bring to a boil and boil for 10 mins. After exactly 10 mins, I remove immediately from the heat, pour out the hot water and cover the eggs with cold water to stop the cooking. This keeps the yolk from turning green.

When the chicken is almost done, mix together the bisquick and milk until a soft dough forms.

When the chicken is done, remove from the pot and set aside to cool. Drop spoonfuls of the dough into the chicken stock.

Simmer over low heat, covered, for 10 mins, then uncovered for an additional 10 mins.

Meanwhile, dice 2-4 stalks of celery (depending on how much you like! I usually do 2.

Now, you could use any vegetable you want here. You could add in onions, bell peppers, carrots, heck, even frozen veggies from a bag. Any mixture of vegetables you like, really. I just really like celery. :D You want to end up with about 1/2 – 1 cup of vegetables when you put them all together. As soon as your chicken is cool enough, cut or shred into bite-sized pieces.

Melt 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat. When foamy, add in celery/vegetables and saute for 3-5 mins.

Add in chopped chicken and season well with salt (I like kosher) and a little pepper. Stir to combine. By this point, the dumplings should be done. Add the chicken and celery to the broth/dumplings. Remove the yolk from boiled eggs (and in my case, give them to 2 greedy little puppy monsters),  chop up the whites and add them to the soup. Stir all to combine. :)

And serve. :) For fun, I wanted to add a little garnish to the soup. I didn’t have any fresh parsley, so I took some of the leaves from the celery and chopped them up. I don’t know if you’re allowed to do that, but in my experience, it was so aromatic and added a great flavor to the soup! :)

Every bite is chock full of hearty meat & vegetables, creamy soup, & so, so much flavor. If you need a soup to make you feel all warm and happy inside- this is it! :)

© kevinandamanda.com, 2009. | Link to this post | Comment on this post | Stumble This Recipe!