This cook thread is for a Throwdown entry. If you are not familiar,
multiple opportunities per month to compete on an informal basis,
but mainly to exchange ideas that might be of interest of others.
Check out the Throwdown thread withing Q Talk.
It has been a long time since a pot of gumbo was on the stove.
And like so many others, my weight is a little higher than preferred.
How could I make Chicken & Sausage Gumbo in a healthy way?
It occurred to me, no gumbo worth cooking could be healthy,
but it could be made less unhealthy. Four changes came to mind:
Ingredients
1 Cup Flour
1 Bunch Green onions
1 1/2 Cup Sweet Onion, chopped
1 1/2 Cup Celery, choppped
1 1/2 Cup Bell Pepper, chopped
32 oz x 2 Chicken Stock, fat free
8 Each Chicken drumsticks
12-16 Oz Turkey Sausage, quartered and sliced
10-12 Oz Kale, chopped
10-12 Oz Asparagus, chopped
Directions
1. Place flour on sheet pan, cover with aluminum foil, bake at 370 degrees, stirring/mixing every 15 minutes, until color of peanut butter or darker. Should take about two hours.
2. Remove skin from chicken, place in skillet to render fat.
3. Brine skinless chicken in 1/4 cup Cajun seasoning per quart of water. Remove from brine without rinsing after 30-35 minutes.
4. Quarter lengthwise and slice turkey sausage, brown in skillet with rendered chicken fat. Move to gumbo pot when done.
5. Chop onion, celery, and bell pepper. Saute in skillet, move to gumbo pot when done.
6. Add a quart of chicken stock, 1 Tbs Cajun seasoning, and 3/4 cup browned flour to gumbo pot when finished in oven. Bring to boil over medium heat.
7. Brown chicken on grill until desired color and marks are achieved.
8. Simmer chicken in gumbo pot for an hour on low.
9. Chop kale and asparagus.
10. Remove chicken from pot, add kale and asparagus.
11. While greens are cooking, de-bone chicken, shred, then return to pot. Add seasoning and/or browned flour if needed.
12. Cook rice if desired.
13. Thinly slice green onion tops.
Plating
Add gumbo to bowl, add scoop of rice with sprinkle of Cajun seasoning and parsley. Garnish with green onion slices.
Photos & Comments
Note color of flour before baking, browning without oil make color changes subtle.
I used drumsticks, but thighs would work as well. A slice in the skin helped removal, minimizing damage to meat.
Any Cajun seasoning will suffice. I used "Slap Ya Mama" on this batch for brine and seasoning in pot.
Chicken is getting happy.
Here is the turkey sausage in skillet. No need to remove chicken skin, as it continues to render fat that may be needed.
The size of the chopped vegis is not critical, but should be consistent and appropriate for "falling apart" chicken at end of cook.
In this cook, I used green, red and yellow peppers. Normally I cook the vegis in oil based roux. But in this "Less Unhealthy" batch, I used the chicken fat to add flavor.
Here is the color of the browned flour I used. My oven has a light convection fan that blows to create even baking temps, and is much softer blowing than a regular convection setting. It's probably great for cookies or casseroles, but terrible for browning uncovered flour. If your oven does not have this feature, browning the flour uncovered should speed the process. I went with this color thinking it appropriate for a lighter gumbo offering.
Here are the vegis, sausage, and flour prior to adding chicken stock.
While the gumbo pot is heating up, grill/brown chicken. Chicken does not need to be fully done at this point and will finish cooking in gumbo pot. Breasts were for a different dish. They just don't stand up to all the other flavors floating around the gumbo pot.
After browning, into the pot (with bones) for an hour.
When prepping the kale, remove stems from leaves if they are present. Nutritionally, there is not much difference between kale, asparagus and okra. I think the asparagus adds less slimy texture than okra. In addition, okra seeds share a common characteristic with corn kernels. But if you like okra, use it instead.
Here I removed any undesirable pieces of the chicken legs and broke it up using my fingers.
Here is what the finished gumbo looks like in the pot.
Dinner is served! Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. Dessert is grilled pineapple with 2% fat yogurt topped with Agave-Chipotle wing sauce.
Enjoy!
In this cook, I......
- could have gone darker on the roux, thought lighter might be better with chicken and turkey
- added a red and yellow bell pepper for color and lightness of flavor.
- used Hillshire Farm Turkey Polska Kielbasa Sausage, rather than chicken/turkey andouille
- believe cutting sausage smaller creates more surface area to absorb chicken flavor from skillet
- used Kirkland Signature Organic Chicken Stock
- believe the flavor of asparagus does not stand up to Cajun seasoning, but adds..."texture".
- could easily use bone-in, skin-on thighs, but got a good deal on drumsticks
- added limited chicken stock at end of cook, stored in more concentrated form, added stock when reheated.
Thanks for looking!
multiple opportunities per month to compete on an informal basis,
but mainly to exchange ideas that might be of interest of others.
Check out the Throwdown thread withing Q Talk.
It has been a long time since a pot of gumbo was on the stove.
And like so many others, my weight is a little higher than preferred.
How could I make Chicken & Sausage Gumbo in a healthy way?
It occurred to me, no gumbo worth cooking could be healthy,
but it could be made less unhealthy. Four changes came to mind:
- roux without oil
- skinless chicken
- turkey sausage
- more vegetables
Ingredients
1 Cup Flour
1 Bunch Green onions
1 1/2 Cup Sweet Onion, chopped
1 1/2 Cup Celery, choppped
1 1/2 Cup Bell Pepper, chopped
32 oz x 2 Chicken Stock, fat free
8 Each Chicken drumsticks
12-16 Oz Turkey Sausage, quartered and sliced
10-12 Oz Kale, chopped
10-12 Oz Asparagus, chopped
Directions
1. Place flour on sheet pan, cover with aluminum foil, bake at 370 degrees, stirring/mixing every 15 minutes, until color of peanut butter or darker. Should take about two hours.
2. Remove skin from chicken, place in skillet to render fat.
3. Brine skinless chicken in 1/4 cup Cajun seasoning per quart of water. Remove from brine without rinsing after 30-35 minutes.
4. Quarter lengthwise and slice turkey sausage, brown in skillet with rendered chicken fat. Move to gumbo pot when done.
5. Chop onion, celery, and bell pepper. Saute in skillet, move to gumbo pot when done.
6. Add a quart of chicken stock, 1 Tbs Cajun seasoning, and 3/4 cup browned flour to gumbo pot when finished in oven. Bring to boil over medium heat.
7. Brown chicken on grill until desired color and marks are achieved.
8. Simmer chicken in gumbo pot for an hour on low.
9. Chop kale and asparagus.
10. Remove chicken from pot, add kale and asparagus.
11. While greens are cooking, de-bone chicken, shred, then return to pot. Add seasoning and/or browned flour if needed.
12. Cook rice if desired.
13. Thinly slice green onion tops.
Plating
Add gumbo to bowl, add scoop of rice with sprinkle of Cajun seasoning and parsley. Garnish with green onion slices.
Photos & Comments
Note color of flour before baking, browning without oil make color changes subtle.
I used drumsticks, but thighs would work as well. A slice in the skin helped removal, minimizing damage to meat.
Any Cajun seasoning will suffice. I used "Slap Ya Mama" on this batch for brine and seasoning in pot.
Chicken is getting happy.
Here is the turkey sausage in skillet. No need to remove chicken skin, as it continues to render fat that may be needed.
The size of the chopped vegis is not critical, but should be consistent and appropriate for "falling apart" chicken at end of cook.
In this cook, I used green, red and yellow peppers. Normally I cook the vegis in oil based roux. But in this "Less Unhealthy" batch, I used the chicken fat to add flavor.
Here is the color of the browned flour I used. My oven has a light convection fan that blows to create even baking temps, and is much softer blowing than a regular convection setting. It's probably great for cookies or casseroles, but terrible for browning uncovered flour. If your oven does not have this feature, browning the flour uncovered should speed the process. I went with this color thinking it appropriate for a lighter gumbo offering.
Here are the vegis, sausage, and flour prior to adding chicken stock.
While the gumbo pot is heating up, grill/brown chicken. Chicken does not need to be fully done at this point and will finish cooking in gumbo pot. Breasts were for a different dish. They just don't stand up to all the other flavors floating around the gumbo pot.
After browning, into the pot (with bones) for an hour.
When prepping the kale, remove stems from leaves if they are present. Nutritionally, there is not much difference between kale, asparagus and okra. I think the asparagus adds less slimy texture than okra. In addition, okra seeds share a common characteristic with corn kernels. But if you like okra, use it instead.
Here I removed any undesirable pieces of the chicken legs and broke it up using my fingers.
Here is what the finished gumbo looks like in the pot.
Dinner is served! Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. Dessert is grilled pineapple with 2% fat yogurt topped with Agave-Chipotle wing sauce.
Enjoy!
In this cook, I......
- could have gone darker on the roux, thought lighter might be better with chicken and turkey
- added a red and yellow bell pepper for color and lightness of flavor.
- used Hillshire Farm Turkey Polska Kielbasa Sausage, rather than chicken/turkey andouille
- believe cutting sausage smaller creates more surface area to absorb chicken flavor from skillet
- used Kirkland Signature Organic Chicken Stock
- believe the flavor of asparagus does not stand up to Cajun seasoning, but adds..."texture".
- could easily use bone-in, skin-on thighs, but got a good deal on drumsticks
- added limited chicken stock at end of cook, stored in more concentrated form, added stock when reheated.
Thanks for looking!
