As always, when I'm cooking, our fuzzy scavenger is patiently alert for ANYTHING that might fall or even spatter to the floor. It is actually a challenge to avoid stepping on or tripping over him while bustling about the kitchen.
The first step is to simmer a chicken (6 pounds) and make two gallons of stock. In addition to the water and chicken I used 2 quartered yellow onions, a couple stalks of celery cut into 2 inch chunks, 2-3 bay leaves, a tablespoon of salt and half tablespoon of cayenne pepper. That's the big pot you see on the back left of the stove. It simmered for 2 hours. When it was done, I removed the chicken, strained the broth, and discarded the solids. After stirring the roux slowly and continually for about 35 minutes, it was smooth and dark brown. At that point I added to the roux 2 cups of chopped onion, 1 cup of chopped green pepper, 1 cup of chopped celery, and a half pound of chopped Andouille sausage. While the roux and veggies simmered, I removed the skin and bones from the chicken and coarsely chopped it. It made quite a pile of chicken. The next step is to combine the broth and the roux. If you let the broth cool some and add it a few cups at a time while stirring gently you can prevent the roux from separating. That would be a difficult, if not impossible, disaster to recover from. This all went back into the stock pot along with the chicken and a pound of smoked sausage cut into quarter inch slices. I returned it to a boil and simmered it for another hour and a half. Adjust the taste and stir in 2 Tablespoons each of chopped green onion and fresh parsley. Serve with rice.
As you can tell, it is quite a project; and it requires almost continual attention. This is not "fix it and forget it," slow cooker recipe. But, it was a fun, if messy, project. The first meal was good, but I'm expecting a subsequent meal, warmed up slowly in a double boiler, will be even better. Although I did some clean up as I went along, Durelle muttered something about, "Never again" for nearly an hour as she cleaned up after me.
Let me close with a shot of the photogenic member of the clan comfortably ensconced in Durelle's recliner.
1 comment:
....labor intensive, but I'm sure delicious. Looks like Baxter was in a "pout" because he didn't get any.
Eleanor
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