Chicken n Dumplins *North meets south....Louisiana

• boil or pressure cook lg chicken or hen in well seaoned water

• reserve stock and cool chicken and debone

• in lg cast iron or magnalite pot make "blonde roux"

• whisk 1.5c of butter or marg w/ 2c flour over med heat

• stir in 1-2c of milk and add bag of frozen seasoning veg (onion,bell pepper,celery) and cook til soft

• gradually stir in at least 10-12c broth to desired thickness and season to taste

• for dumplings I use 2 tins of lg buttermilk biscuits - flatten and cut in 1/2 strips

• drop in simmering liq (betwixt low-med heat)  stir occasionally to minimize clumping and cook evenly  overall mixture will thicken aome more w/ biscuits added

• don't add chicken until very end (avoids it breaking down and gettin stringy-same goes for gumbo and jambalaya)

• optional - 6-8 boiled eggs sliced and/or frozen green peas, again add these right before you serve also

Crawfish Cornbread

2 pkgs crawfish tails (you can substitute 2 lbs sm cooked shrimp or lb of each)

2 cups corn meal

4 eggs

1 cup oil

1 can cream corn

1 can diced tomatoes

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup chopped jalapeno peppers

2 cups chopped shallots

2 cups shredded cheese

1/3 cup Creole seasoning

Cook at 375 for 30-40 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean

Best served in lg heavy casserole *coat w/ oil and pre-heat before pouring in mix

*You can also ½ the recipe and bake in lg cast iron frying pan

Bobby’s Down the Bayou Gumbo

Supplies/Ingredients:

lg black cast iron pot w/ lid, lg spoon and whisk

1 lg hen

1-2 lbs hot sausage

2 lg onions (chopped)

2 bell peppers (chopped)

3-4 celery stalks (chopped)

1/2 cup parsley and cup of chopped green onions (use ½ of both to season and rest to garnish)

1 lb fresh or frozen okra

1 lg can Rotel diced tomatoes

1 cup oil and 1 ½ cup flour for roux

Seasonings: salt, black and red pepper, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce and Tobasco sauce

Pressure cook or boil hen until tender—set aside to cool and later debone and save stock

Chop vegs and cut pork in ¼” slices

Brown sausage in pot w/ sm amount of oil and set aside on paper towels to drain

Add cup of oil to pot and turn heat up to near med-high; once it’s hot, add 1 ½ cups of flour and whisk until roux is dark brown and consistency of runny peanut butter

Turn heat down to medium and add vegs , stir and sauté until soft/transluscent

Continue stirring as you add approx. 8-12 cups of stock you saved (the amount you add is dependent on how thick you want it—I prefer a thicker gumbo)

Season to taste w/ above-listed ingredients (light on the garlic powder and heavy on the Worcestershire sauce) and remember that the longer the mixture simmers, the more intense the flavor so you might want to under-season in the beginning

Simmer uncovered for 2-3 hours ideally, stirring occasionally to ensure no sticking or burning

Add chicken to pot 10-15 min before you’re ready to serve (just long enough to get it warm) and garnish w/ remainder of parsley and chopped green onions

Serve over rice w/ french bread on the side