Lainey-style Gumbo

That's right, I have a pretty sweet cutting mat at work.

Full disclosure: I've never had gumbo anywhere else but my own home. For all I know, this recipe tastes NOTHING like the real deal. But it's loosely based on a gumbo recipe I found online, that also mentioned that everyone's gumbo is different, depending on the ingredients you like to use. So I'm going for it.

Call it what you like, it's definitely tasty. So here we go!

Ingredients: 

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup oil

1 large onion, diced

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup veggies (I used a turnip)

3 bay leaves

1/3 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

6 sausages (I used chorizo), sliced into rounds

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (but use whatever beans you like)

3 cups or so chicken stock

1 can/jar diced tomatoes

Let's do it!

1. Heat up a soup pot with oil until it moves around the pot really quickly if you tip it. Add flour and whisk/stir with a wooden spoon for at least 25 minutes in low heat until it gets nice and dark. This is the roux that will thicken the gumbo.
2. Add all veggies into the pot and stir until onions are translucent. 
3. Add spices.
4. Add sausage and let them cook in the bottom of the pan for a few minutes.
5. Add beans, tomatoes and enough chicken stock to cover everything. Bring to a boil and let simmer for an hour or so.
6. Serve over rice.

Makes about 6 servings.

Easy? So easy. Yummy? SO YUMMY.

Mushroom Risotto

An easy, but time-consuming recipe. For some reason, I have 4 boxes of arborio rice in my house, so I figured I'd make this.

Ingredients (I don't really measure anything, so this is my best guess)
1/2 cup arborio rice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic minced
1 cup sliced button mushrooms
1 cup sliced chanterelle mushrooms
1/4 cup dry white wine
1L or so chicken stock
salt to taste
2 tsp butter


Let's do it!
Pour the chicken stock into a pot on the stove and keep warm.

Heat up the oil on medium low in a deep, large saucepan and throw in the onions. Cook until soft, then add the garlic and mushrooms. Saute until everything is soft and brown, roughly 20 minutes.

Add the rice and saute until the rice is translucent. Add wine and stir until thick.

Ladle in some warmed chicken stock and stir. When the sauce starts to dry up, add some more and stir. Continue until the rice is cooked. Yes, this will require tasting. Lots of tasting.  This step takes a while, so pour yourself some wine and turn on the radio. You don't need to continuously serve it. I would pour some stock in, stir it around, then load the washing machine. Then I would come back, put some more stock in and empty the dishwasher.

When the rice is done, fold in the butter.

That's it! You can top with some chives or parmesan if you like. It's an easy, filling meal that works well for lunch the next day. Serve with some other veggies to round out your meal. I sauteed up some zucchini and baked a sweet potato to add some much needed nutrition and variety to my lunch.