Chorizo-Chicken Gumbo

1# good quality chorizo sausage

1# grilled (or raw) chicken breast

1-2T butter or oil

1 med. purple onion

½ mixed grain rice

1c chopped green pepper

1c chopped celery and tops

7 lg. cloves garlic - minced

1 14.5oz. can diced tomatoes

24oz. of water

3 bay leaves

1t-1T sugar

2t smokey paprika

8-12oz. frozen okra

Slit the chorizo casings and squeeze the sausage out into a 5qt. pot.  Add bite-size pieces of chicken breast, oil and about ⅓ of the onion, minced.  Simmer over low heat until everything's sizzling, for about 15 minutes.  Add the rest of the onion, the rice, celery, green pepper and garlic.  Stir, saute' and continue to cook until everything's snapping.  Add the tomatoes, water, bay leaves, sugar and paprika.  Stir together, cover and simmer about a half hour.  Add the okra and simmer on low another 20-40 minutes.  Check the flavor after about 10 minutes and make adjustments, if needed.

This makes a big pot of gumbo and is perfect for a really chilly day with some biscuits or cornbread.  It's also nice to have a big bowl of this if you're trying to fight off a virus.  If your chorizo is on the greasy side, you'll want to scrape some of that off the top before you heat it the next time.  For right now though, if you fold a paper towel to approximate the size of your pot, drop that on top, let it absorb, remove it, throw it away and repeat a few times. . .Lin