New Orleans Style Turkey Gumbo
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Category
Mississippi Masala
Cuisine
Cajun, Indian
Servings
6-8
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate the harvest and blessings of the past year. I/we have a lot to be thankful for… 😉
For the past few years, we have a tradition with my sister-in-law, her family and my ‘adopted’ sister (my sister-in-law’s cousin) for a Black Friday leftover meal. In my home leftovers are rarely served as the same meal, and always made into a new dish. This year we took our collective leftover Thanksgiving meals and made a Creole feast… Turkey Gumbo, Blackened Turkey Pasta, sautéed Zucchini, Hushpuppies, Garlic Bread and Sweet Potato Pie.
Today I share with you a fairly easy Gumbo recipe.
First a few tips/notes:Make the roux first. The key to a great gumbo is the roux! Only two ingredients, flour and butter. The important part is to cook it, stirring constantly, until it becomes dark, dark brown almost like mud, or chocolate.
Make sure you stir it constantly, on medium low heat, so that you don’t burn it. It’s easy but takes patience. The darker the roux, the richer the flavor!
I love making recipes that use lots of fresh produce, you can substitute with any seasonal veggies, zucchini/squash work well (remember recipes are meant to be guidelines, so make it your own)!
For this recipe, I used what I already had at home from our Thanksgiving feasts (and yes, there was more than one 😊).
Instead of rice, I served the Gumbo with mashed potatoes. (Either works)
Keep in mind, since we brine our turkey, our pan drippings/broth is fairly salty, so I use water to dilute it. If your broth has less sodium you can use all broth and no water.
Ingredients
- For the Roux:· 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- · 1/2 butter
- For the Gumbo:· 4-5 stalks celery, diced, leaves and all
- · 1 red bell pepper, diced
- · 1 large yellow onion, diced
- · 1lb Fresh Okra, sliced (Frozen works well also)
- · 1 bunch fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped
- · 2-3 cloves garlic
- · 1-2 Tablespoons Modern Masala’s Mississippi Masala
- · 3 cups Turkey pan drippings (broth)
- · 4 cups Water
- · 12-ounce package andouille sausages, sliced
- · ~3 cups leftover Turkey meat or 1 Rotisserie Chicken
- · 1lb Shrimp
- · cooked white rice or mashed potato for serving
Directions
- In a large, heavy bottom stock pot combine flour and butter. Cook on medium-low heat, stirring constantly for 30 minutes. This part takes patience--when it's finished it should be as dark as chocolate and have a soft, "cookie dough" like consistency. Be careful not to let it burn! Feel free to add a little more flour or butter as needed to reach this consistency.
- In a separate skillet on medium-high heat place the sausage slices in one layer in the pan. Brown them well on one side (2-3 minutes) and then use a fork to flip each over onto the other side to brown. Remove to a plate.
- Add veggies to skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes to start the cooking process.
- Add the garlic, mix in 1 tablespoon Modern Masala’s Mississippi Masala and add the sausage back in.
- Add 1/2 cup of the broth to the hot skillet to deglaze the pan. Then and it to your large soup pot.
- Add remaining broth, parsley, and roux to the pot and stir well.
- Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 8-10 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Add turkey (or chicken) and shrimp and let cook for 3-4 minutes (do not overcook the shrimp).
- At this point taste it and add more seasonings to your liking--salt, pepper, garlic, more Modern Masala’s Mississippi Masala--until you reach the perfect flavor. Serve warm over rice or mashed potato.
