Happy 2-22-22 and Mardi Gras, fam!
Though it’s raining heavily, and it’s dark and gray out, I’m feeling rather perky today. I spent the morning cleaning up the kitchen from last night’s epic cook: Heaven on Seven’s sausage and chicken gumbo, and have a giant pot to look forward to eating today, and tomorrow, and maybe three months from now because I’m definitely freezing half of this goodness. If your eyes and ears perked up at gumbo, let me tell you, this recipe is no joke. I started a tradition of making it ahead of Mardi Gras in 2019, just as I was coming out of the historic government shutdown and figuring out how to be a little less homesick and lost in my career. Something in my core was like, “Sandy, you need to track down a copy of the Heaven on Seven cookbook and make the gumbo.” And that is exactly what 2019, 2020, and 2021 Sandy have done every year since. 2022 was no different, but there’s something that gets me every time. And that is: how much work it is to prepare for such a rich yet humble bowl of warmth.
The steps include making a Cajun seasoning charmingly named “angel dust,” making homemade chicken stock (which I thankfully had on hand), making a dark roux, and making a roasted garlic puree—the latter two taking about an hour each, but can be done at the same time. Then there is the chopping, slicing, and dicing. Slicing andouille sausage into coins, cutting up chicken breasts into ¾ inch cubes and then seasoning with angel dust, chopping onions—so many onions—celery, green bell peppers, and jalapeño, and managing to keep the onions separate from the celery/pepper combo. The sausage is cooked, then the chicken is added, then the onions, then the celery/pepper, garlic puree, and seasoning, followed by broth, and then finally (FINALLY!) whisking in the roux. Let that pot simmer for an hour, uncovered, and do not, I repeat, do NOT forget the filé powder at the very end as you take the pot off of the heat. Serve your gumbo over cornbread or white rice, and you have something that is as good as what you’d find at a little cash-only restaurant, nestled into the seventh floor of a building in Jeweler's Row.
I credit my dad for taking us here as kids, often after a treacherous visit to the dentist’s office on a different floor of the building. I recall thinking this place was pure magic. The walls are lined with hundreds of bottles of hot sauce with names like “slap my ass and call me Sally!” and “ass in space” and “ass in the tub” to describe just how hot they were. The big bronze candelabra-style light fixtures are dripping with Mardi Gras beads, and the entire place just sparkles. It’s a remarkable thing, being in a building that smells like a dentist office on other floors, to arrive on the seventh floor and be rolled into a wave of the smell of fried green tomatoes, gumbo, and shrimp Étouffée. Their key lime pie is as legendary as the hilariously named hot sauce bottles.
But back to the kitchen.
With all that chopping, pureeing, stirring, and whisking, I felt a little zing. A reminder that I really like making food for myself, especially those special, once-in-a-year, damn is this good dishes. My silence on the cooking/blogging front this last month wasn’t due to throwing in the towel or biting off more than I can chew. In fact, I’ve made 20 of the 126 recipes on my list, so we’re still in good shape. I was sidelined with coursework (so many articles!), TAing, and a few other side projects in addition to it being cold, and snowy, and just needing a break from big projects. But hello, I am here, and goodness gracious, was making gumbo exactly the reminder I needed that cooking is the best!
In an effort to pick up where we left off many moons ago, I wanted to share my thoughts on the Glazed Five-Spice chicken with a side of goma-ae (with a variation on the tahini dressing) and steamed jasmine rice. A big takeaway was that, from what I can tell, Chef Nosrat’s rice-to-water ratios incorporate more water than I’ve ever read in the instructions on the back of the rice bag! I skeptically brought more water than I usually do to a boil, added my ::rinsed:: jasmine rice, and was blown away by how moist, fluffy, and good this rice turned out! I also added a few drops of sesame oil to the rice as I fluffed it, which complemented the sesame in the tahini dressing and the sesame oil in the glaze. 10/10 would make this gorgeous dish again!
And you better believe that I’m making rice with my gumbo this evening using Chef Nosrat’s ratios. We need fluffy moist rice for our gumbo my friends!
Now to figure out what’s on the menu next…
[image description: A chicken, deconstructed into legs, thighs, and breasts, on a quarter sheet pan, about to be prepped for overnight marination in the fridge.]
[image description: Two shallow bowls painted in a blue and white swirling pattern. Each bowl contains a scoop of jasmine rice, goma-ae spinach salad, and a piece of Glazed Five-Spice chicken topped with sticky marinade.]