Smoked Sausage Gumbo

You might remember about 2 weeks ago we smoked 6 pounds of sausage for our Smokapalooza party. We had a little sausage left over & Matt suggested I turn it into gumbo.

It's been hot here & I didn't really feel like having gumbo cooking on the stove all day so I looked for a version that could be done in the crock pot. The crock pot has really been my friend during the hot weather since it just doesn't heat up the kitchen in the way the stove & oven do. You do have to do a little stove top prep for this recipe when you make the roux but, I just do that in the morning while it's still cool.

This gumbo turned out quite good with a great thick texture. I was a little worried the okra would make it slimy but after cooking all day thee was no slime at all. The original recipe called for a mixture of sausage & chicken but we had so much sausage I left the chicken out. It was good but I think I would have enjoyed the addition of chicken even more. I added the hot sauce & worcestershire sauce to the recipe to give it even more flavor. Of course, Matt added even more hot sauce when he ate it. All & all this was a great use for leftover sausage.

Smoked Sausage Gumbo
(adapted from Southernfood.About.com)

40 - 60 minutes prep time

4 T unsalted butter
1/4 c all-purpose flour
2 c chicken stock
1 lb smoked sausage, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 heaping c sliced okra (I used frozen)
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t salt
few grinds fresh pepper
1/4 t crushed red pepper
few dashes hot sauce, something like Tabasco or Crystal
few dashed Worcestershire sauce
water

Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the flour. Cook while stirring for about 3 - 4 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium & continue to cook, stirring constantly for about 15 minutes. You are looking for your roux to be the color of a copper penny.

Put the chicken stock into a crock pot. Stir in the roux. Add all the remaining ingredients except for the water. Add enough water so everything is almost covered (You can use more chicken stock instead of water if you want. I was using homemade stock which is really flavorful so using water won't dilute the flavor too much.)

Turn crock pot to high & let cook for 4 - 5 hours.

Serve over hot rice.

4 servings

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