Smarty pants = chicken, sausage, okra gumbo & rice

Cajun Joe's Note:

A fast, quick, and easy way to make that delicious Cajun New Orleans style gumbo. This can be made with or without sausage or okra, or just seafood, or a mixture of any kind of seafood you have except fish. The main reason that this gumbo is so good is that it's so easy, and it can stand up to the best tasting gumbo there is. My huge Cajun family here in New Orleans doesn't make gumbo from scratch anymore since Zartarians and Smokehouse arrived on the scene. The Zatarain, or the Smokehouse have no appreciable difference in taste, but Smokehouse is much cheaper to buy.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 35 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs
• Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 8-10

Yield: 2.0 Quarts

• 1 box Zatarians gumbo base mix or 1 package Oak Grove smoke house gumbo base mix (absolutely DON'T USE gumbo mix with rice included)
• 1 lb chicken (or as much as you can fit into the pot after you mix the base)
• 1 lb smoked sausage (or as much as you can fit into the pot after you mix the base)
• 1 (10 ounce) box sliced frozen okra, defrosted

Boiled long grain regular white rice recipe

• 2 cups long grain white rice
• 4 quarts water, in a large pot
• 1/2 tablespoon salt

Directions:

1. -----Gumbo--------.
2. Follow recipe on gumbo base container to mix base.
3. Using water is good, but some chicken broth is better.
4. Bring base to a low boil.
5. This is the critical step= stir well because the base wants to stick to the bottom of the pot, while it is being fully dissolved.
6. Add meat, and bring to a low boil again, lower fire and simmer for thirty minutes, stirring occasionally while scraping bottom of pot.
7. stir in okra, and bring back to a low boil for 2-3 minutes, just enough to heat the okra, then serve with cooked long grain white rice.
8. -----------Boiled long grain regular white rice recipe----------.
9. Add salt to water and bring water to boil.
10. Add rice and stir well.
11. The moment you add the rice to the water, start timing for 13 minutes.
12. stir occasionally during cooking process, while scraping bottom of pot.
13. After 13 minutes, stir well, then drain rice using calendar, then run some hot faucet water over the rice in the calendar.
14. Serve gumbo with rice added.

Reviews

[Cajun Joe]

If you really want to get cajun = buy some fresh sweet potatoes, and bake them at 425 degrees, till the juice starts running out of them. Then let them cool to room temperature for the gumbo meal that night. After your guest serve themselves the gumbo & rice, suggest that they cut a sweet potato into 1 inch chunks, and add it to their gumbo. Oh it's so heavenly it'll make your teeth chatter. Another optional thing to add to your gumbo is a little vinegar. Start with a teaspoon full, then gradually add a little at a time if you need more. Be very careful though, a little too much vinegar, and that will be all you taste = it will overcome the taste of the gumbo.

[Serena710]

This dish is very good. It is basically the exact way that I have always made mine except I add seafood instead of the chicken. It is also good with a bit of cayenne pepper for heat. My daughter and husband even sprinkle a bit of Old Bay Seasoning on theirs.

[Chef #160516]

Very easy and very good! I kept second guessing myself, but everything turned out great! Not to sound cliche, but I did add some of Emeril's Essence and that "kicked it up a notch"! ;)