Slow Cooker Gumbo

HeatherFeather's Note:

I saw this recipe deomonstratd on tv during a PBS telethon. It looked so good, that I made a donation in order to get the cookbook. I have not tried this recipe yet, but it sure looked good. Surprisingly, this recipe does not start with a roux, so this isn't quite a traditional version. Adapted from "5 Tastes of the South."

• Total Time: 9 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 9 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 2 -3 cups smoked sausage , cut into thin rounds
• 2 cups onions , chopped
• 2 cups celery , chopped
• 2 cups okra , chopped
• 2 cups bell peppers , chopped
• 2 quarts canned tomatoes , chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons beef bouillon powder or 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon powder or 4 bouillon cubes
• 1 teaspoon onion salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 2 cups cooked chicken or 2 cups seafood (they used a little of both)
• 1 ¼ cups uncooked instant rice (Minute Rice)
• red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper , to taste
• file powder , to taste

Directions:

1. Brown the sausage slices in a skillet for a few minutes to brown each side.
2. Add the first 11 ingredients to the crock pot (sausage through garlic salt).
3. Cook on medium setting for 8 hours.
4. Taste and adjust seasonings, then add uncooked Minute Rice, cooked chicken or seafood, and a shake of red pepper flakes or cayenne to taste, stirring well.
5. Let cook another 30 minutes.
6. Serve in bowls over a scoop of cooked white rice and garnished with file powder- or just serve in bowls as is, as a soup.

Reviews

[Chef #725332]

I halved the recipe and used 6oz kielbasa, 5 oz frozen cut okra, some parsley stalks, 1 t roasted garlic paste and didn't add onion salt or garlic salt. I also added the cooked chicken at the beginning and didn't add any uncooked rice. Low 7h. This is good, it didn't need any extra salt. Next time, I'll try 2t roasted garlic and double the okra.

[Chef #313335]

I made this recipe and found it a little bland. After adding the following ingredients my family wants it made again soon. They loved it. I added garlic and onion powder instead of the garlic and onion salt so I added 1 tsp salt instead. Then 5 Tbsp worcestershire instead of 3, 2-3 bay leaves, 1 tsp cumin (ground), 1/2 tsp coriander (ground), 1/4 tsp cayene and 3/4 c long grain rice instead of instant, which I added earlier since it needed more cooking time. This turned out to be very delicious.

[Chef #337827]

On its own, this recipe was pretty good. It was easy to make and had good flavor. If you really like authentic gumbo, though, this one will disappoint you. It resembles jumbalaya much more so than gumbo. I would call it gumbalaya.