This last saturday I had two reasons to make a Gumbo. The first reason was that the blackeyed peas came out so well I wanted MORE. And the second reason was my sister had been to the Ferry Building over in S.F. and picked me up a few gorgeous Andouille sausages. I had most of what I needed right there.

A day or so previous to the above, I mentioned to my sister I was going to make a Gumbo. She said she’d always wanted to, but it was a bit involved and hadn’t had the time or wherewithall to deal with it. I looked at the recipe I had in front of me from Chuck Taggart’s Gumbo Pages and said to myself, “dang, this isn’t tough”. Then I looked at the intro to the recipe and it stated this was a SIMPLE Gumbo. Hmmm, okay, so what was a standard gumbo about, exactly?
Making my way over to the main page with all the Gumbos and Soups listed, it was clear the other Gumbos were our of my reach, for the moment. Eeeek, I still had to learn to make a decent roux! One step at a time pal, baby steps.
Since I didn’t need okra or seafood, gathering the ingredients was quite easy and fast.
Here’s a quick idea:
# 1 cup oil
# 1 cup flour
# 2 large onions, chopped
# 2 bell peppers, chopped
# 4 ribs celery, chopped
# 4 – 6 cloves garlic, minced
# 4 quarts chicken stock
# 2 bay leaves
# 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning, or to taste
# 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
# Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
# 1 large chicken (young hen preferred), cut into pieces
# 2 pounds andouille or smoked sausage, cut into 1/2″ pieces
# 1 bunch scallions (green onions), tops only, chopped
# 2/3 cup fresh chopped parsley
# Fil