One of my birthday gifts was a Paula Deen cookbook The Lady and Sons: Savannah Country Cookbook. Of course, I want to try out as many of them as I can.
Another of my birthday gifts was a day spent with Rachel in Beaumont. Part of what we did was walk around the Beaumont Farmer's Market, whereat I--and Rachel--purchased and shared some okra, some jalapenos, some eggplant, and some cayenne peppers. I was looking forward to using them, so I looked for a recipe which called for okra. When I first saw the recipe, I was a little put off. Shrimp Gumbo Casserole? Blech! Something about the texture of shrimp makes me uncomfortable. Well, I know that I can change up whatever I want to change, so I gave it another look. My first thought was to make it with chicken, until I remembered that we had Venison Sausage in the deep freezer in the back. Now, while Shrimp Gumbo sounds nasty, Venison Sausage Gumbo didn't sound half bad, yeah? So, here was how I did it:
I chopped the venison sausage and set it aside. It is the encased, smoked kind. Really delish AND shot by Cole Younger Whitehead and his Daddy last autumn. :)
I chopped in a rather small manner approximately 1-1/4 cup onion. It was a large onion. The recipe actually called for a cup; however, there was some leftover when I finished chopping up the onion, so I just added it to the recipe. (It didn't hurt anything at all, case you're wonderin')
I chopped, finely, one cup of celery--about 4 stalks.
I chopped about six sections of Garlic (what is the word that means garlic section?) I could have used a lot less, but since I was using my new garlic chopper tool, I had to use more cos the garlic chopper tool often leaves too much in the tool. It is very useful in the chopping part; however, I often have to use more than normal.
I poured about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a big pan and let it heat.
I sauteed the onion, celery and garlic. I ended up having to do it on low for a longer period of time cos I have never made this concoction before today and I wasn't really sure when to do part 1 and how long before part 4 should I start part 3 and all that jazz.
I spent the next twenty minutes chopping.
8 roma tomatoes-and when I was done, I tipped the wooden chopping board toward the bowl with the tomatoes, so that I could get all the juice which had escaped in the chopping process. For your info. The recipe actually called for a 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes. I like using fresh, if possible. You can do whatcha want to do, of course.
About 6 sprigs of fresh lemon thyme. I merely stripped the tiny leaves off of the stem and added them to the tomatoes. If you have to use dried, it calls for 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme.
About 20-25 fresh medium okras, cut into 1/8 inch slices.
-I chopped one small jalapeno and one cayenne pepper, as small as possible.
About 1/4 cup of chopped fresh basil and fresh apple mint leaves. It was...eehhh....1/3 mint to 2/3's basil. Just after I finished chopping the two, I worried that the mixture might be too weird, but it turned out okay. I was substituting both the basil and the mint for lemon pepper, by the way. I really don't like lemon pepper, so I made up my own little dealio.
I added all the chopped ingredients, including the sausage, to the sauteed mixture and began stirring them all together.
I added pepper, to taste, which for me means about two tablespoons full and a dash of salt.
Then, the entire mix simmered for about twenty minutes. If there is any chance that you don't want to do the cornbread topping (thus making it a casserole) you prolly oughta simmer the gumbo stuff until it is boiled down to the consistency that you want. During the cornbread baking part, some more of the liquid is boiled off in the oven; therefore, if you leave off the cornbread part, you'll have to leave it on the stove for a bit longer. I don't know how long. This will have to be your experiment. However, if I every decide to check things out on this matter, I'll let ya know what I have discovered. If you do, perhaps you could let on what you learn, also.
Meanwhile, I had to make the cornbread mixture. Here is where I may have run into a bit of trouble. It is really a pride issue, to be honest. I love my own recipe for homemade cornbread, so though the cookbook gave me "directions" for the topping, I snubbed my prideful nose at it because it called for cornbread muffin mix. I suppose one could use a 12-ounce package of corn muffin mix, one egg, beaten and 1/3 cup milk as the recipe required, but I used my own recipe. Turns out I made too much. So, I'll have to tweak the recipe to see how to change my recipe to make it the right amount. I'll try to remember to add my recipe at the end of this blog.
Okay, so where were we? When I finished the cornbread recipe I poured the mixture onto the gumbo mix and put it in the oven, 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Then I did the dishes, of which I was very happy after we ate cos I was too full to do the dishes by that point.
The result? It was tasty; however there was too much cornbread. It was kinda spicy cos of the jalapeno and cayenne, but you could subtract those foods from the recipe if spice isn't your thing, yeah?
I chopped in a rather small manner approximately 1-1/4 cup onion. It was a large onion. The recipe actually called for a cup; however, there was some leftover when I finished chopping up the onion, so I just added it to the recipe. (It didn't hurt anything at all, case you're wonderin')
I chopped, finely, one cup of celery--about 4 stalks.
I chopped about six sections of Garlic (what is the word that means garlic section?) I could have used a lot less, but since I was using my new garlic chopper tool, I had to use more cos the garlic chopper tool often leaves too much in the tool. It is very useful in the chopping part; however, I often have to use more than normal.
I poured about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a big pan and let it heat.
I sauteed the onion, celery and garlic. I ended up having to do it on low for a longer period of time cos I have never made this concoction before today and I wasn't really sure when to do part 1 and how long before part 4 should I start part 3 and all that jazz.
I spent the next twenty minutes chopping.
8 roma tomatoes-and when I was done, I tipped the wooden chopping board toward the bowl with the tomatoes, so that I could get all the juice which had escaped in the chopping process. For your info. The recipe actually called for a 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes. I like using fresh, if possible. You can do whatcha want to do, of course.
About 6 sprigs of fresh lemon thyme. I merely stripped the tiny leaves off of the stem and added them to the tomatoes. If you have to use dried, it calls for 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme.
About 20-25 fresh medium okras, cut into 1/8 inch slices.
-I chopped one small jalapeno and one cayenne pepper, as small as possible.
About 1/4 cup of chopped fresh basil and fresh apple mint leaves. It was...eehhh....1/3 mint to 2/3's basil. Just after I finished chopping the two, I worried that the mixture might be too weird, but it turned out okay. I was substituting both the basil and the mint for lemon pepper, by the way. I really don't like lemon pepper, so I made up my own little dealio.
I added all the chopped ingredients, including the sausage, to the sauteed mixture and began stirring them all together.
I added pepper, to taste, which for me means about two tablespoons full and a dash of salt.
Then, the entire mix simmered for about twenty minutes. If there is any chance that you don't want to do the cornbread topping (thus making it a casserole) you prolly oughta simmer the gumbo stuff until it is boiled down to the consistency that you want. During the cornbread baking part, some more of the liquid is boiled off in the oven; therefore, if you leave off the cornbread part, you'll have to leave it on the stove for a bit longer. I don't know how long. This will have to be your experiment. However, if I every decide to check things out on this matter, I'll let ya know what I have discovered. If you do, perhaps you could let on what you learn, also.
Meanwhile, I had to make the cornbread mixture. Here is where I may have run into a bit of trouble. It is really a pride issue, to be honest. I love my own recipe for homemade cornbread, so though the cookbook gave me "directions" for the topping, I snubbed my prideful nose at it because it called for cornbread muffin mix. I suppose one could use a 12-ounce package of corn muffin mix, one egg, beaten and 1/3 cup milk as the recipe required, but I used my own recipe. Turns out I made too much. So, I'll have to tweak the recipe to see how to change my recipe to make it the right amount. I'll try to remember to add my recipe at the end of this blog.
Okay, so where were we? When I finished the cornbread recipe I poured the mixture onto the gumbo mix and put it in the oven, 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Then I did the dishes, of which I was very happy after we ate cos I was too full to do the dishes by that point.
The result? It was tasty; however there was too much cornbread. It was kinda spicy cos of the jalapeno and cayenne, but you could subtract those foods from the recipe if spice isn't your thing, yeah?
All in all, I liked it and will try it again, I am sure. Perhaps y'all can try it, too. I'll have something new to report in the next couple of days. :)
Love,
Lolly Fabulous :)
Cornbread recipe:
Pre-heat oven 450
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoons powder
a dash of salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil or melted shortening.
add all the dry together, set aside.
add all the wet together.
Mix them all together 'til they're just barely mixed together, ya know?
if you're making cornbread, add it to the a greased pan and bake for 20 t0 25 minutes.
By the way, I only had buttermilk, so--according the nice stranger in the dairy section at Kaine's--I used 3/4 cup buttermilk and 1/4 cup water to replace regular milk. I love this recipe. This is the only way I make cornbreak unless I have no other option.
This dinner sounds really good!! I should have gotten you to bring me a little of it for lunch, since you were heading to Houston today anyway! :)
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