I rarely if ever pass freshly roasted rotisserie chickens at the grocery without taking one home. I love to pull the meat off into bite-size pieces, date it, freeze it, and it’s ready for a variety of meals. Like today’s Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. When it comes to gumbo, my preference is a seafood gumbo, but when I don’t have any good seafood on hand, I can always resort to the freezer and pantry to stir up a first-rate chicken and sausage that pleases the hungry stomachs at my table. Let me show you how to whip up my delicious albeit simple chicken and sausage gumbo for your family.

“Chicken and Sausage Gumbo”

1 rotisserie chicken, deboned
1 and ½ pounds smoked sausage
½ cup oil
½ stick butter
1 cup flour
1 small bag diced onions, peppers, and celery
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 bag of gumbo veggies and or a bag of frozen okra
Salt and pepper
Gumbo file`
Tony’s Cajun seasoning

Growing up southern, you hear it early and often, “First you make a roux.” I’ll go over the simple steps in case you were raised without such a valuable education. You’ll want to begin with equal parts flour and fats. Some people use butter, some oil. Me? I like both! We’ll being by adding a ½ cup of vegetable oil and a ½ up of butter to a cast iron skillet. When it gets hot, we’ll stir in a cup of flour. Continue to stir until your roux turns a deep brown color, low and slow, stirring constantly. The perfect color is “next door to burnt.”

At that point, we’ll stir in about a quart of cold water and a bunch of chopped green onions. You can also substitute beef or chicken stock. Turn your fire down and let it simmer. Meanwhile, we’ll brown a pound and half of smoked sausage, cut into bite-size pieces. Add this sausage to your roux along with a bag of prepped chicken from your freezer and you’re just about set. That’s the basics. Add a bag of frozen okra or a bag of gumbo veggies, whatever you have on hand.

If you don’t have a bag of chicken in your freezer, you can start with a baked hen that you’ve deboned or 4-6 chicken baked breasts. Season with salt, pepper, Tony’s Cajun seasoning and gumbo file’. Simmer for at least thirty to forty-five minutes, longer to deepen the flavor. Serve over hot rice. Now, how easy was that?