Deconstructed Gumbo

I made a family friendly gumbo the other night. I served it over a choice of rice or barley (OG likes plain rice, BG does not), made it with vegetarian stock (BG is vegetarian) and cooked the meat separately (OG likes plain meat). My only failure was that stir frying the chicken and sausage together made the chicken taste funny to the OG, so she eschewed where she should have chewed.

It was leftover celery that made me think of this, and the recipe is inspired by the chicken gumbo in the Joy, which calls for chicken on the bone and andouille sausage.

Deconstructed Vegetarian Chicken Gumbo

Drop two chorizos in boiling water. Boil for one minute, take off the heat, cover and let stand for 15 minutes in the cooking water.

Add 1/4 cup of vegetable oil and 1/4 cup flour to a large pot and cook over low heat for 4-6 minutes, until reddish-brown. Remove from heat and stir in 1 onion, 4 stems of celery and a green pepper, diced into equal size pieces, and 2 tsp. paprika, 1 1/2 tsp. salt, a generous pinch of cayenne and 1 tsp. garlic powder. Whisk in 4 cups of vegetable stock and simmer for 10 minutes.

While the pot is simmering, cut the sausage into slices and stir fry it along with two boneless 2 chicken breasts, cut into strips, for about 5-8 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

Puree the soup with an immersion blender (or a regular one) until it reaches the desired consistency (I went a little too far and would have preferred a few more vegetables, rather than the puree I got). Serve alongside the meat and starch for combining as you prefer.