Creole Okra and Sausage Jambalaya Gumbo

It was the principals’ jobs to feed the staff this week at Parent/Teacher Conferences.    My goodness, but they are a hungry bunch.    We went through two pans of lasagna, a double-batch of Veronica’s Creamy Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole, a BIG salad, two loaves of French Bread, angel food cake, and brownies.   (And, really…we have a small staff.)

Our teachers deserved it!!!!

We were first going to do an Italian night, but that morphed into Italian/Mexican/Creole night.   What a combination of flavors (but thankfully, I threw in the extra food!).

Since I had okra from the garden, I wanted to make a gumbo.

I didn’t have any of my gumbo mix ready in the freezer so I went to my Jambalaya Junior League Cookbook from New Orleans.

I used two recipes from the cookbook to create this recipe:   a Creole Okra side dish and a Chicken and Sausage (and Oyster) Jambalaya recipe.    This is what I came up with.

Creole Okra and Sausage Jambalaya Gumbo
Now, that’s a mouthful!

3 T. butter
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 c. shallot, copped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 (15 oz) cans diced tomatoes
4 c. okra, chopped
1 bay leaf
3/4 t. ground thyme
1/2 t. dried marjoram
1 t. Worchestershire sauce
Tabasco sauce to taste
6 c. chicken stock
2 pkg. smoked sausage, sliced
2 c. cooked rice

Melt butter in a large Dutch oven.   Add onions, shallot, bell pepper, celery and garlic and sauté until soft.    Add in tomatoes, okra, spices, Worchestershire, Tabasco, chicken stock and sausage.    Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer.   Simmer thirty minutes.   (While the mixture simmers, you can cook the rice separately.)

Add cooked rice and serve.

According to Wikipedia, Jambalaya is a Louisiana Creole dish of Spanish and French influence so I guess I was a bit redundant with the recipe title.   Since I added the okra, I tacked gumbo on to the end.

If there is any left, this dish can easily be frozen.

For a great way to use up a lot of okra and keep you in gumbo for the entire winter, check out my gumbo freezer mix.

Wow–we put the food out at 3:00 in the teachers’ lounge.   At 4:30, there was nothing left but a few spoonfuls of lasagna.    Hungry bunch!

(Thank your children’s teachers today.   These folks do a lot for little money and less praise most of the time.)

 

I have been so busy lately that I haven’t picked any virtual flowers for Abigail this week.   Abby, just know that good thoughts, giggles, and hugs are directed your way!   🙂

 

 

Also, thanks everyone for all the kind comments on my last post.