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1
In a large stock pot, saute cubed chicken with a little oil.
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2
Make sure the bottom of the pan doesnt scorch.
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3
The brown bits are desired.
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4
Remove chicken and do the same with cubed up sausage (you should try to use some sort of southern sausage, not Italian, it has the wrong flavor).
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5
Remove the sausage and drain off some of the sausage fat, if theres a lot.
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6
Add oil to the pan to equal about 1/2 Celsius and add flour.
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7
This will be the roux.
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8
Using a wisk, stir the roux on medium heat for about 15-20 minutes or until a nice medium brown.
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9
You must stir constantly and not burn it, this is super important to the whole dish, so if you muck it up, start over!
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10
Once the roux is ready, add the onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic (in Cajun cooking this is called the holy trinity, but its often green peppers, but I dont like green so I use red.)
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11
Cook this a bit till the veggies start to soften and just be careful to still not burn the roux.
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12
Try as you go to scrape up the nice brown bits off the bottom of the pan.
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13
Add the chicken stock, okra, bay leaves and spices.
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14
Add back the cooked chicken and sausage.
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15
This needs to cook like this for at least an hour if you use okra b/c the only way to get rid of the sliminess of okra.
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16
Youll see the liquid become very sticky but it will cook past that over time.
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17
Dont freak out!
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18
If you dont use okra you can cook for less time.
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19
As you cook you may need to adjust the liquid to keep the ratios right, but you want this to be a thick stew.
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20
At the end, add the shrimp and parsley and serve once the shrimp are cooked.
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21
The right way to serve this is in a bowl with a nice scoop of rice ON TOPonly Yankees put the rice on the bottom.
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22
Serve with Tabasco.
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23
(p.s.
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24
you can cook in some hot stuff like cayenne or hot pepper at the stage of adding the spices, but b/c I feed this to a lot of kids and wimps, I usually let people add the heat at the table.
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25
P.p.s this recipe is easily doubled or tripled.
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26
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