GUMBO - Roy Choi

 This one’s a hat tip to Emeril. My life was as fucked up and twisted and murky as a pot of gumbo, and Emeril saved me that day and didn’t even know it! Gumbo to me smells and feels and tastes like the cultures that developed it—the strength, the wisdom, just pure soul.

Filé powder is a thickener sometimes used to make gumbo; no sweat if you don’t have it on hand.

SERVES 6 TO 8

¼ cup vegetable oil

4 ounces andouille sausage, casing on, chopped

4 ounces dark chicken meat (legs and thighs), chopped

¼ onion, diced

¼ red, yellow, or green bell pepper, seeded and diced

2 stalks celery, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced

1 cup minced scallions

¼ cup sliced okra (use frozen okra if you can’t find fresh)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 cup canned diced tomatoes with juice

3 quarts chicken stock

2 bay leaves

4 ounces dark roux

2 cups rice, any kind

12 ounces shrimp, peeled, deveined, and chopped

1 teaspoon filé powder if you have it

Handful of chopped cilantro

Handful of chopped parsley

Juice of 1 lemon

Tabasco or other cayenne-based hot sauce

FOR THE ROUX

½ cup all-purpose flour

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

In a small pot over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook gently, stirring periodically, until the roux turns a medium-dark brown. This may take 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool.

Heat a large pot over high heat for 1 minute, then add the oil. When the oil starts to smoke, add the sausage and chicken to the pot and sauté until you get a nice color on the meat, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add all the vegetables except for the tomatoes and season everything with salt and pepper to taste. Sauté the vegetables until you get a good color on them, about 5 minutes. Then add the tomatoes and cook for 2 more minutes.

Add the stock, bring it to a boil, and then add the bay leaves and cooled roux.

Whisk out any lumps, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, and let it simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

Reduce the heat to low, add the rice, and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

About 5 minutes before the rice is ready, add the shrimp, filé powder if you have it, fresh herbs, and lemon juice, and season to taste again. Throw in a few splashes of Tabasco.

GUNG HO.