Multi-National Gumbo

½# Chorizo sausage

¾ c 20-minute white rice

2 T smokey bacon grease

2 big carrots-finely diced 

1 c finely diced onion

1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes

1 t thyme-ground or leaves

1½ t good Italian seasoning

½ t cayenne pepper

½ t black pepper

2 bay leaves

1 t sea salt

1 t sugar

Here it is, Thanksgiving week, and I can't get New Orleans Creole Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo out of my mind!  Sooo. . .what do you do?  You Make Some! 😃 Mine isn't exactly done according to NOLA standards though, more my own free-form version.  I didn't have 3 ingredient that I needed though, so I devised a way to do this in two steps, until I could buy some celery, green pepper and okra.

Squeeze the sausage out of the casing into a 4 quart pot.  (Chorizo is Mexican, Andouille is Creole, but I'm not a fan.)  Add rice, EVOO, and a handful of onion and carrot.  Saute' this until it browns and begins to stick to the pot, stirring all the while.  Add 1 c of water and repeat the procedure.  Add the next group of ingredients, and another cup of water.  Bring to a simmer for a couple minutes, cover and shut off the heat.  Chill this until the next group of ingredients are cooked and ready to add to the pot.  Then...

rest of the diced onion

rest of the diced carrot
1½-2 c sliced celery
1 sliced green pepper

2 T smokey bacon grease

8-12 oz. frozen okra
lots of chopped celery greens
BTB soup base - lobster or chicken flavor

1-2 c water
8-16 oz. shrimp

Saute' these vegetables in butter in a 2 quart pot or pan until sizzling nicely and a little translucent.  Add the okra, water, cover and simmer 10 minutes.  Pour this into the main pot with the shrimp.  Bring it all to a simmer for another 5 minutes then serve with some really good, crusty French bread.

Yup, Multi-National Gumbo.  Yummm! . .Lin