Gumbo party

Is it a soup?

Is it a stew?

It’s a gumbo!

One of my colleagues is in his early 20s and is really just learning about cooking properly. A few weeks ago he was very proud of the chicken gumbo he had made. He was surprised how easy it was to make something so tasty.

Fast forward to this Monday, and I was at a bit of a loss as to what to cook for supper. All I knew I had in the fridge was a chorizo sausage. So, my colleague suggested chicken gumbo. Perfect!

The basic recipe which inspired this is on the bbc good food website here. If you haven’t checked out the recipes on bbc good food, you’ve missed out.  Go on, have a browse – they have more pics than I usually do.

A top tip here: chop up everything else and put them in bowls (doubling things up that are being thrown in the pan together) before you cut up your chicken. That way, you just need to clean the knife and the board at the end.

Chicken Gumbo

• 4 – 5 chicken thighs, cut into chunks
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, smooshed up
• 1 green chilli, sliced finely
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped finely
• 1 TBsp plain flour
• 1 large tin/carton chopped tomatoes
• a chicken stock cube
• a mug of boiling water
• 1 courgette, cut into chunks
• 2 red peppers, cut into chunks
• 2 bay leaves
• a couple of stalks of fresh thyme
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp paprika
• about 100g chorizo, chopped into chunks
• a couple of new potatoes, cut into small chunks
• a few handfuls of spinach

1. Using a wee bit of oil, fry off the chicken in a large heavy bottomed frying pan
2. Remove the chicken, and let it rest in a bowl till you’re ready for it again
3. Add the celery and onion to the pan, and cook over a gentle heat till the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and chilli and cook for another couple of minutes
4. Add the flour to the veg, stir and cook for a minute or so.
5. Add the chopped tomatoes, chicken stock cube and boiling water and stir together
6. Put the chicken back in the pan, followed by all other ingredients, except for the spinach, and simmer with a lid on for about 20 minutes
7. Add the spinach and stir through – it won’t really need further cooking as the spinach will just wilt into the gumbo
8. EAT!

Related articles

• Mardi Gras! My Gumbo Recipe (foodandwinehedonist.wordpress.com)

Tags: Cayenne pepper, chicken, dinner, Garlic, Gumbo, lent, Low-carbohydrate diet, Meat, Potato, quick supper, recipe, soup, Stew