good ol' southern chicken gumbo

i found a vegetable gumbo recipe in this month's food network magazine (find the recipe here!). knowing my sweet fiance jason the all veggie thing was not going to be rated very high on his scale... so i decided to add chicken and change a couple of things. i'll tell you how that went over at the end!

**note to readers: i am housesitting and, as a result, cooking in a foreign kitchen.... so i am making due for a couple of weeks while i'm away from my sweet little cooking home. also, excuse the absurd plates... remember, not mine!

ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (or bisquick pancake mix when you can't find a stitch of flour)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped (i use red so there's a little color contrast)
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (i buy the big jar of minced garlicbecause it's stinky and time consuming to mince it yourself)
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth (or one small can of it)
• 1 pound kale or swiss chard (chopped)
• 1 10-ounce package frozen black-eyed peas (yep, they look just like beans!)
• brown rice on the side

directions

1. heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
2. add the flour and cook, stirring, until golden, about 3 minutes.

3. chop the onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic (if not pre-minced), and chicken.

4. add the chopped onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, 3 tablespoons water and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper.

5. reduce the heat to medium, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables soften, about 8 minutes.

6. while the vegetables are steaming, chop the chard. (it can be rough because the chard will shrink in the pot)

7. add the soy sauce and paprika and cook, stirring, 30 seconds.

8. stir in the vegetable broth and chicken, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot, then cover and bring to a boil.

9. add the greens and black-eyed peas to the pot.

**my pot seemed to be a little small for all the gumbo ingredients... but watch and see the chard will shrink down.

10. reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 15 minutes. (see i told you the chard would shrink!)

11. season with salt and pepper.
12. serve with the rice, if desired. - And for those of you who like it spicy, you can always add a little hot sauce!

jason's rating: 4.0 Stars
we both agreed that although delicious we wanted there to be a little more spice in the flavor. i think creole seasoning on the chicken would really have done the trick. i'll be able to revise when i make it again... and i'll be sure to update here!