Sausage Okra Gumbo

 

 

Today I am sharing a family favorite recipe that gets rave reviews no matter when I serve it.  Just had it the other night--8 of us for dinner and I doubled the recipe and had one serving left.  Yeah, that good.  I substituted the pork sausages with Hillshire Farms Turkey Kielbasa.  Actually, I never make this with pork sausage because Mom always made it with Hillshire Farms Kielbasa.  So enjoy the kielbasa!  Don't you love saying that word?  Kielbasa, kielbasa, kielbasa...

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. smoked country-style pork sausage (or you can use...wait for it...kielbasa!)
2-3 T. butter
3 T. flour
2 cups chicken broth
18-oz. frozen gumbo vegetables*
14-oz. can of tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 t. salt (you may want to adjust down, depending on how salty your meat choice is)
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. ground red pepper
2 t. gumbo file powder, opt** (I use 1 T. Old Bay Seafood Seasoning)
3 cups hot, cooked rice

1.  Cover sausages with water and cook for 10 minutes in a covered Dutch oven or large pot.  Drain; cut sausages into 1-inch pieces and set aside. (Probably not necessary to boil the kielbasa.  What do you think?)

 

2.  Melt the butter in the Dutch oven.  Add flour and cook, stirring, until mixture is deep brown. 

 

3.  Add broth, vegetables, tomatoes, garlic powder, salt, red pepper and sausages.  bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.

 

4.  Remove from heat; add file.  Do not boil once file has been added. (I don't know why, do you?)

 

5.  Ladle gumbo into bowls and top with a scoop of rice.

 

 

 

* You can use a combination of okra, corn, onions, celery and sweet red pepper instead of the frozen vegetables.

 

** You can use 1/2 t. leaf thyme and 1 bay leaf.  Add with the broth and vegetables.  Remove bay leaf before serving.

Source:  Pat Brew, Brew Family Cook Book, 1st Edition.