November 26, 2006
Leftover Turkey and Smoked Sausage Gumbo
Tonight I made my favorite Thanksgiving-leftovers recipe. I learned it from my brother, who made it with chicken, but there's no reason why you can't substitute turkey. Since we always have white-meat turkey left over, it's usually pretty easy to scrounge up 2 cups for this. You can omit the okra if you don't like it, but I've found it doesn't really taste like anything, it just thickens things a bit more. I only add it because Brian says it's not gumbo if it doesn't have okra (despite my attempts to explain file gumbo).
Oh, and it probably goes without saying that all good cooks will strip the turkey carcass and make stock for this soup. I am not a good cook, so I used canned low-sodium chicken broth.
Tonight's attempt came out okay, not great. It was slightly gritty, so I don't think we cooked it long enough. Also, it wasn't quite dark enough, at least in my opinion.
Turkey and Smoked Sausage Gumbo
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup flour
1 medium onion, diced
1-2 stalks of celery, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
1/2 - 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
1/2 lb. smoked sausage, diced or cut in half moons
1/2 box frozen okra, or 1 cup sliced fresh okra (optional)
6 cups turkey stock, or chicken broth
2 cups chopped cooked turkey
Combine flour and oil in a heavy soup pot. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly and scraping bottom, until roux is a chocolate brown color, or until you're afraid it will burn - 20 to 30 minutes.
Add onion, celery, pepper, salt, and cayenne to roux and stir thoroughly. It will bubble furiously at first. Stir frequently for 5 minutes.
Add sausage and okra. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Stir in stock/broth.
Bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally.
Check seasoning and add more salt or cayenne if desired.
Add turkey meat. Simmer for 20 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
Serve gumbo in soup bowls with hot steamed rice. We had brown rice with ours, along with a healthy dash of Tabasco.
Posted by Laura at 07:54 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 02, 2006
Chicken Wild Rice Soup
I made this soup for my mom and dad over the past weekend. It's one of the few things I'll make and bring to work for obligatory potlucks, and people seem to like it. Unfortunately, I've yet to discover that one missing ingredient that would make it as tasty as, say, Keys Cafe's version.
1 cup uncooked wild rice
3 cups water
1 lb boneless chicken breasts
1 quart chicken broth
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
2 carrots, quartered and sliced thinly (~ 1 cup)
2 stalks celery, halved and sliced thinly (~ 1 cup)
1 medium onion, finely chopped (~ 1 cup)
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or 1/2 t table salt)
1/2 cup flour
Strained broth from cooking chicken
2 to 3 additional cups of chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
Salt and pepper
2 cups half and half
Cook wild rice in 3 cups water for 50 - 55 minutes. Drain excess water and set aside.
Cook chicken breasts in 1 quart broth for about 20 minutes, until cooked through. (I also add some pieces of carrot, celery, and a bay leaf to the broth). Remove chicken and skim or strain broth.
When slightly cooled, cube the chicken breast.
In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add carrot, celery, onion, and salt, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes.
Add mushrooms and cook for another 3 or 4 minutes.
Sprinkle flour over vegetables and stir well. Cook mixture for a minute or two, stirring contantly.
While stirring, pour strained broth slowly into vegetable mixture.
Add two cups of broth from the second quart.
Add rice, chicken, and wine to soup.
Add salt and black pepper to taste.
Simmer soup on low heat for at least 10 - 15 minutes, until vegetables are tender.
Just before serving, stir in the 2 cups of half and half and heat through. You can add additional broth if it's too thick.
If you plan to let the soup sit overnight, it will be significantly thicker the next day, so plan to add some broth or water to thin it out.
Also, if you plan to freeze it immediately, don't add the cream until you thaw it out and plan to serve it.
Posted by Laura at 11:23 AM
January 07, 2006
Ham and Bean Soup
I tried my hand at bean soup in order to use up the rest of the New Year's ham. I got the basic recipe off of Allrecipes, but it's essentially the same recipe my dad has used for 30 years. He uses navy beans, though, and adds thyme and cumin.
What I didn't realize, since I don't make many soups, is that it's just like every other soup I've ever made - broth, veggies, meat together for awhile, then add other ingredients. It makes me want to make more soups!
1 lb. Great Northern beans
8 cups water
4 cups (2 cans) chicken broth or stock
4 cups water
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 or 3 carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 bay leaves
1 ham bone
2 cups diced ham
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of cumin
Begin by soaking the beans. I used the quick soak method where I brought the beans and 8 cups of water to a rapid boil, boiled for 2 minutes, then covered and set off the heat for 2 hours. In my case it was more like 3 hours and then I put them in the fridge for awhile.
Drain and rinse the beans, and return them to the pot. Add chicken broth, 4 cups water, celery, carrot, onion, garlic, ham bone, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer covered for at least an hour until the veggies are tender and the meat is falling off the bone. Remove the bone and if there's any meat still on the bone, cut it up and throw it in the pot. Add chopped ham and salt and pepper to taste (the ham is pretty salty anyhow so it doesn't take much). Simmer for another 30 minutes.
If you want your soup a little thicker, like I did, mash some of the beans up against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. You could thicken it with a roux too. I also added a pinch of cumin at the end.
Serve and enjoy :)
Posted by Laura at 09:40 PM