Thursday, March 03, 2011

Gumbo (sort of)


Ground Chicken Gumbo
Taste of Home Comfort Food Diet Cookbook Copyright 2009

1 cup uncooked long grain rice
1 pound ground chicken
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
1 cup sliced fresh okra
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

Cook rice according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven or soup kettle, cook the chicken, celery, green pepper and onion in oil over medium heat for 8 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink; drain.
Stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until heated through. Serve over rice. Yield: 6 servings.

Nutritional Analysis: 1 cup gumbo with 1/2 cup rice equals 322 calories, 11 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 50 mg cholesterol, 900 mg sodium, 40 g carbohydrate, 5 g fiber, 18 g protein.
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I make so many new recipes using ground chicken that the odds are that I'm bound to have a clunker every now and then. I seem to be defying the odds however and this was another winning recipe. While not unique, it was different from what I've been eating lately and that increased my enjoyment of it. It was good and not at all guilt-inducing.

I did have to make a special trip to find fresh okra but when I found it, it was cheap (albeit maybe not the freshest okra one could find). I paid about 70 cents for the okra for this. I have some vague recollection of trying to cook something with okra a long time ago and it being a complete disaster. Thinking that was frozen okra, I didn't want to go that route if I could help it. I didn't want to skip it as I knew it would provide the thickening in the gumbo and I'm not sure it would really be a gumbo without it (is it really gumbo with it - are there any gumbo purist out there???)

I'll add this to my ground chicken recipe round up.

So I went to Wegman's where I was relatively sure I would find okra, and I did. As I said, it wasn't expensive. The other stuff I impulsively added to my cart was not. We don't have a Whole Foods, we don't have a Trader Joe's. Wegman's is the ultimate shopping experience for me in this area. You'll hear more about some of my purchases in future posts.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've seen/had gumbo both with and without okra. What the "original" was I'm not sure, but I would suspect it had okra. It is my understanding that "gumbo" is the Creole word meaning okra.

Jan

Anonymous said...

Oops, I should have said that gumbo was an African word for okra. So....still half correct.

Jan

karen said...

Yes, it is gumbo without okra. I'm in south Louisiana, I've had it both ways. One thing you don't want to do is overcook the okra - it turns to slime. Not very appealing.

This looks tasty.

Randi said...

I LOVE Wegman's. I used to shop there whenever I went to Buffalo( when I was in Ontario). I brought home so much stuff. I love their store magazine too, there are great coupons in it as well.

Terry Atwater said...

I just made this, albeit without any broth, oregano, or thyme. I added some cayenne pepper to my individual portion, because I didn't want everyone in my family to have to have it.

This recipe is very, very delicious--thanks very much for it!

Bill said...

This doesn't sound bad, but it's not gumbo in any way, shape, or fashion.

Heather said...

I just made this!! I made my own stewed tomatoes though,added corn,substituted the fresh okra with zuccini, and added a handful of black beans and a teaspoon Cayenne pepper...delish!

Anonymous said...

Made this and it was so easy... No okras for me but did add some black beans and cummin. It was yummy!

Anonymous said...

I agree with Bill. It probably tastes good, but with the exception of a couple spices and okra it's not gumbo.