Kev and Vanessa's Louisiana Chicken and Shrimp Gumbo

Authentic gumbo is a thing of beauty. Good luck finding it in England, though. Even if I did find a creole joint here, I would be pretty skeptical just on principal. We lifted this recipe from a CIA (Culinary Institute of America) cookbook on healthy cooking, of all things.

We noticed some glaring omissions right off the bat - no heat in the original recipe. Well, we fixed that. Cayenne, paprika and Old Bay Seasoning took care of that nicely. I also had some homemade duck stock laying around in the freezer, so we used that instead of the called for chicken stock. It really added a lovely depth to the whole thing.

This is such a soul-pleasing bowl of food. Creole cooking has tons of soul... this just had that extra 'X' factor. I think it had to do with the roux made from the toasted flour. Either way, this was easy to throw together and an absolute JOY to eat.

70 g bread flour
30 g chorizo, diced
2 chicken breasts, chopped
70 g green bell pepper, diced
70 g celery, diced
2 tablespoons jalapeno, diced
¼ cup scallions, chopped
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 ½ quarts duck stock
½ cup brown rice
1 pinch Old Bay seasoning
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon hot paprika
1 teaspoon oregano, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon basil, chopped
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tomatoes, cut in concasse
50 g raw shrimp, chopped
1 handful parsley, chopped

Toast the flour in a 325°F/165°C oven until it turns dark brown.

Render the sausage in a large soup pot. Add the chicken and saute until browned. Add the peppers, celery, jalapenos, scallions, and garlic and saute until aromatic. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Add the rice, Old Bay, cayenne, paprika, oregano, bay leaf, thyme, basil, pepper, onion powder and salt. Simmer until the rice is almost cooked, about 30 minutes. Add the tomato concasse.

Place the browned flour in a large bowl. Slowly whisk some of the soup liquid into the flour until smooth. Add the mixture to the pot and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the shrimp and simmer until cooked, about 5 minutes. Add the parsley and stir through. Check for seasoning and adjust.

The soup is ready to serve now, or it maybe properly cooled and stored. To serve, portion the hot soup into a heated bowl with a ladle.