Chicken & Andouille Gumbo

Great gumbo. It was my grandmother's recipe, then my mothers, now mine. It's gone through a few changes here and there, but is basically the same. My mother liked to add shrimp to this, too, and sometimes left out the chicken entirely and put crab and shrimp in it. She never left out the andouille, though.

• Ready In: 2 hrs 30 mins
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 quarts  unsalted chicken stock (preferably homemade)
• 1 1⁄2 lbs  poached chicken, cut into bite-sized chunks
• 6  tablespoons  peanut oil
• 1 1⁄2 lbs fresh okra, cut into 1/2 inch slices or frozen sliced okra,thawed completely
• 1⁄2 cup flour
• 1  lb andouille sausage, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 (1 lb) can tomatoes, with their juice,cut up a bit
• 1  green bell pepper, diced
• 2  stalks celery, diced
• 4  cloves garlic, minced
• 1  fresh bay leaf
• 2  teaspoons kosher salt
• 1  teaspoon dried thyme
• 1  teaspoon dried basil
• 1  teaspoon cayenne
• 1  teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1  teaspoon  gumbo file powder
•  fresh cooked white rice
•  cornbread

Directions

1. Heat 2 tbl.
2. of the peanut oil in a large dutch oven and fry the okra, stirring frequently, until it is no longer sticky (this usually takes about 10 minutes).
3. Remove from the pan and set aside.
4. In the same pan, stir in the flour and remaining oil, and cook over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon pretty constantly, until the roux turns a rich mahogany color (probably another 10 minutes, maybe 15- keep stirring!).
5. Add all the remaining ingredients (including the okra) except for the chicken and the file' powder, stir to combine everything, bring to a good simmer, turn the heat to maintain a low simmer, partially cover, and let cook for about 1 1/2 hours.
6. Taste, adjust the seasonings if needed.
7. Add the chicken and simmer another 15 minutes.
8. Mound the rice into the bowls, ladle the gumbo over top, then sprinkle each serving with a little bit of the file' powder.
9. Serve with generous portions of hot cornbread.
10. Note- I say poached chicken in this recipe because I always make my own chicken stock for the gumbo, and so use the cooked chicken from that for the gumbo.
11. But if you are using chicken broth from a can, you can either (a) poach your chicken in the canned stock (making the stock richer), or (b) just add the raw chicken cubes to the gumbo and cook for 20-25 minutes before serving.
12. Note 2- DO NOT make the mistake of adding the gumbo file to the cooking gumbo!
13. First of all, it will taste odd.
14. Second of all- you will end up with a solid, gelatinous, stringy mess!
15. A tiny bit of file powder goes a very long way, and it's intended to be used as a condiment, not cooked with.
16. It's thickening powers are tremendous.
17. If you don't have file' powder and can't get it, you can do without it, but it does add to the authentic"southern" taste.