Fat Monday. Had an educational weekend that included learning about canning and preserves, jams and pickling (free class at Surfas in Culver City, was actually pretty interesting, and it's way easier to make jam and pickle stuff than you'd think). Pretty mellow otherwise, except for getting back on the bike for the first time in months and taking a good 20 mile loop down the PCH from Long Beach to Bolsa Chica Beach, through Seal Beach and Sunset Beach - there's a lot to see and do around those areas that you don't catch whizzing by in a car, and riding a bike down the coast with wetlands preserve on your left and some of California's best surf on your right is just plain spiritual. No less, it left me a with sweet farmer's tan on the arms - summer must be just around the corner.So tonight, I was feeling kinda religious. Quizzically, I have been jonesin' to get in touch w/ da spirit. The trinity. I said The HOLY trinity! Ok ok, hold your horses ye followers of tasty tabernacle. I'm referring to the holy trinity of flavor. N'awlins style. In the name of the celery, the onion and the green pepper.
I'm calling this my Blind Chicken Mumbo Gumbo. "Blind", because I did not follow any recipe or use any measurements. This was completely winged. "Mumbo", cuz I'm not really sure if this was a true gumbo per se, but gumbo was kinda what I was going for - and I think if I added a few things, say like some ochra or potatoes, it may have been a little more legit. HOWever, it came out pretty dang good.
Started off prepping: four celery sticks, a medium diced onion, one diced green bell pepper. Also prepped two big cloves of chopped garlic, 3 diced carrots, and about 12 small crimini mushrooms quartered.
Chicken: chicken "tenders", about a pound and a half of chicken breast cut into 2x4 inch strips. Good for quick cooking. Seasoned, pan seared, slightly browned, but just enough to keep them maybe slightly undercooked (they're going to cook more in the gumbo, don't wanna overcook). Took em off the heat, let rest for a few minutes, and chopped them into half inch cubes.
Dumped celery, onion, bell peppers, carrots, into a pot w/ a little bit of olive oil and a dribble of chicken broth. Let that cook down, then added 24 oz. of canned diced tomato (unsalted). Brought that to a slow simmer, added the chicken (actually only about half the chicken - saving the rest for maybe some tacos or fajitas tomorrow - gotta use up that giant bag of tortillas!), then added the mushrooms. Added probably 2-3 tablespoons of sliced jalepeno, a tablespoon (?) of red pepper flakes, some cumin, 2 bay leaves, few sprigs worth of thyme, and an additional, let's say 1/2 a cup of chicken broth and another dash of salt. Stirred, let it simmer for about 20 mins.
Ladeled the final product into a bowl, topped with some cilantro and squeeze o' lime... and there's your Blind Chicken Mumbo Gumbo. This was very good, the lime actually kicked up and kinda cleaned up the flavor in the end. The second bowl was even better, after it had stewed with the lid on the pot for a while longer, and I also added some shaved grana padano parm to that bowl. So I'm willing to bet it's just gonna taste better over the next day or two.
The fun thing about this is that it's my first foray into this kind of cooking and I know I am just barely scratching the surface here. Sooo many rivers to cross to find gumbo Zen. Ideas abound while cooking this stuff, like a giant pot o' dancing skeletons, tossing voodoo flavor profiles at your spoon, taunting you to dare try this again.
And during this proceess, jammin a little of New Orleans' own Stanton Moore (one of my favorite drummers), ain't just dumpster dish funk-o-phonic, it's straight up N'awlins inspiration. Eh, La Bas!
