cook: chicken & sausage gumbo

I had a chicken and sausage gumbo at Empty Bowls, and so I knew for the Lenten season, I wanted to make a seafood gumbo and even bought the Holy Trinity ingredients. However, I also had two thigh and drumstick, bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces and decided instead to buy a package of Andouille sausage and more chicken wings while at the grocery outlet. The gumbo all starts with the roux: equal parts butter and flour, which at the beginning starts as a thick paste, but gets a bit liquid as it slowly heats. While my roux slowly got dark and which I kept whisking to prevent it from scorching, I diced onions, a red bell pepper, a green bell pepper, celery and carrots.

 

An hour later after vegetables were chopped, the roux was chocolate colored, and so I started browning the chicken and dagnabit, I scorched a little bit of the chicken. Since I had already turned off the heat of my roux in order to not let that scorch and ruin the taste of the gumbo, I removed the chicken and scraped off bits that were burnt as well as washed my Dutch oven. I then resumed frying and there was now a lovely brown fond on the bottom of my pot.

 

In went the vegetables to which I added bay leaves, fresh thyme, sprinklings of Old Bay seasoning and salt and then water to prevent scorching again of the Dutch oven and to de-glaze it. Once the vegetables were softened, I added more water, chicken broth, the roux and the chicken (not pictured) and more sprinklings of salt since I didn't season the chicken, and oh shoot! I forgot to brown the Andouille sausage and so squirted olive oil into the bottom of that sauce pan, which I had cleaned after scraping all the roux into the bigger pot. I sliced the Andouille sausage and browning over medium high heat.

 

I likewise de-glazed the bottom of my sauce pot with water after frying the sausage, which also had a nice fond and which I de-glazed and then dumped the water into the Dutch oven. People who ask me my recipes say I am always not telling them a key ingredient because their dish didn't turn out the same. And yes, I forget sometimes to mention a key ingredient. In this instance or blog, I forgot to mention the 8 cloves of garlic I almost forgot, but mashed in my mortar with a pestle and added much later in the vegetables. Since I didn't have the gumbo file powder, I used Old Bay. And then I let the pot simmer covered for 35 minutes and then left the lid aside to simmer another 10 minutes.

  

For the last 5 minutes, I added sliced okra to further thicken it and just because I loved its bright green color.

I did not add cayenne powder to the gumbo because of Patrick and a neighbor like him who can't handle too much spice. However, the Crystal hot sauce remedied that.

In the same pot in which I had cooked the roux and the sausage, I lastly cooked rice. Atop the rice, the gumbo soup was perfect. The weather is not too cold, nor too warm, ideal for Louisiana cooking. Gumbo is a dish I would make again for the Hawaiian potlucks as I can toss it in a crock pot to keep hot and there is always steamed rice to go with all the mains at their parties. But I think for the next Lenten Friday, I want to cook shrimp étouffée, which will likely elicit a complaint of stew again?

cook: spring harvest + fridge clean out

Before leaving for spring break, I traded my fancy nonstick pans from Food 52 with a friend who got a new stove and couldn't use her wok anymore on it. I also came away from the food pantry at school with a whole head of cauliflower and lots of heads of broccoli. I cut up the cauliflower and used my "new" wok by cleaning out my fridge and frying rice. I diced cauliflower, onions, carrots, celery and minced garlic. I also sliced medallions of Japanese spicy sausage and Chinese sweet sausage as well as added frozen corn and peas.

 

For the stir fry sauce, I broke out my bottles of oyster and soy and Maggi seasoning. I guess I don't care much for a dry rice or for it sticking to the bottom of the wok because I added chicken broth and then water to de-glaze.

Not bad.

Healthy. From the broccoli as well as leeks and spring onions from a harvest, I made a quiche AND a soup. And I deviated from Gordon Ramsay's recipe by not adding goat cheese and walnuts though I did use heavy whipping cream and a bit of Better than Bouillon.

My quiche seemed overcooked to me though gorgeous and not as high and fluffy as I wanted, BUT the soup was the hit for the neighbor gathering called a spring fling.

A few neighbors asked for my leftover jars of broccoli soup, but I do have one for me and Patrick in the fridge. From the public library I checked out this promising book about how Banksy has saved art history.

My spring break had a promising start. A great outrigger canoe practice UNTIL I hyperextended (my erector spinae)on a stroke and which HURT. When I should've rested, I instead swam instead of the rest, ice, compression, compression. And spring break is now Friday, and so I think I can now lengthen and strengthen that muscle with double knees to chest stretch and some side bends where I stand with my feet shoulder-width apart and gently bend to the side, holding for a few seconds and some cat cow on my hands and knees. I canceled my practice for this Saturday and will do plank and wall squats when the pain completely disappears. I should not have swam that mile Tuesday night, but afterward, I did go to Gourmet Haus Staudt with my friend Cybil and drank a lovely winterberry cider and ate pork schnitzel with fries and salad. 

We were gonna stay, so she could do calligraphy and I stitch, but I forgot my reading glasses AND my side was hurting. My side still hurt yesterday when I and Cybil and her friend, Lyra also went to the new Korean market and emporium called Jagalchi, and hurt like the dickens when I swam a half mile later. I was more comfortable just crouched at the end of the pool like Spider-Man. My side still hurts, but I'm going to the ceramics studio this morning and tomorrow. Maybe I'll cook a couple more dishes like a gumbo and a Bolognese after I get back from Costco tonight. Maybe I'll even do some laundry and some linoleum carving too.

field trip: filoli gardens

Last Monday, I chaperoned the photography students to Filoli. I only briefly walked through the mansion and photographed their homage to Women's History month.

As much as I looking at all the turn-of-the-century appliances and cooking equipment of the period kitchen of the mansion, I checked in on the students and then moved my exploring outdoors.

Beyond the kiosks, where they were selling wine and charcuterie boards, you can unlatch the gate and further explore the estate. Instead of walking the asphalt path that circled around the meadow, I trod on dirt to the giant bay laurel tree past the hay growing field and compost heaps.

I was more interested in seeing how far I could range outside from the main grounds.

 

I appreciate that the museum includes a little geologic history that tells about the San Andreas fault.

Instead of photographing mostly manicured gardens, I aimed my camera lens on forest flowers and foliage like the periwinkle and the Indian Warrior below.

   

The museum grounds also cede a bit of land acknowledgement and indigenous history.

More interesting California history is the search for water.

  

And here's the creek that I ambled alongside.

I hiked further up and encountered live oaks.

And then the air started to feel cooler and moist.

I love that there is redwood forest in my backyard a short drive away.

   

But it was time to go eat lunch with the high schoolers, and I headed back to the mansion to get a glimpse of the tulip gardens.

Why yes I do love monochromatic palettes.

And I could tell that we're nearing the end of tulip season.

And of course, I had to duck into the gift shop for ceramic inspiration. I liked the color palette of these multiple vases on a base. But for individual stems, I think I prefer white ceramic.

And when I looked more closely at these mini vases. The flowers are adhered with epoxy, which I dislike.

I did like this luster dish.

And these vases weren't even ceramic, but felt like some kind of resin.

And so there were no ceramic forms I wanted to re-make as my own. I arrived home at Patrick's own tulip and spring bulb arrangement.

I've plans over the spring break to transcribe all the ideas in my ceramic journal to one that is more securely bound.