Cajun Chicken With Okra Food

CAJUN CHICKEN WITH OKRA

Steps:

• Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Add tomatoes, chicken broth, garlic, salt, and cayenne. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 8 minutes. Add okra, cover, and simmer for 3 minutes more.
• Combine water and flour in a small bowl and add to the skillet. Simmer, uncovered, until thick and chicken is no longer pink in the centers, about 2 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Stir in hot sauce. Serve over rice.

CAJUN GUMBO

Steps:

• Boil chicken pieces in 1 gallon of lightly salted water for approximately 1 hour, or until done. Reserve the chicken broth for the base of the gumbo.
• Wash okra and dry with a paper towel. Cut off the ends of the okra and slice into round pieces. Saute the pieces in a skillet with 1/2-cup of the butter until all of the slime has left the okra. This takes 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. You must stir the okra throughout this process to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
• Saute the onion, green pepper, and celery in remaining 1/2-cup butter until lightly browned. Place the cooked okra and onion mixture into the chicken broth. Add the basil, thyme, bay leaves, and garlic to the broth. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 15 minutes.
• Remove skin and bones from chicken, and cut into bite sized pieces, and set aside. Add the chicken, sausage, and ham to the broth at the same time. Return mixture to a boil. Add the shrimp and crabmeat, and cook for another 5 minutes. Season with file, black pepper, and hot pepper, to taste.
• Serve with rice.

CREOLE CHICKEN AND OKRA GUMBO

Steps:

• Stir vegetable oil and flour in large saucepan over high heat until smooth and dark brown, about 3 minutes. Mix in okra, then chicken broth and tomatoes with their juices; simmer 3 minutes. Sprinkle chicken with thyme, salt and pepper. Add to saucepan. Simmer gumbo uncovered until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Season gumbo to taste with hot pepper sauce , salt and pepper and serve.

CHICKEN AND SAUSAGE JAMBALAYA WITH OKRA

Steps:

• Thaw the okra and slice the sausage into 1/2-inch slices.
• Cut chicken into bite-size pieces.
• Heat oil in a large Dutch oven.
• Add the sausage and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.
• Add the chicken, sear both sides, and remove.
• Add the onion and the celery to the pan and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
• Add the garlic and cook 1 minute.
• Drain the tomatoes, reserving the liquid, and add to the pan.
• Break up the tomatoes with a fork or your cooking spoon.
• Stir in the rice, black pepper, cayenne, oregano, and thyme.
• Measure the reserved tomato juice and enough chicken stock to equal 2 cups liquid and add to the pan along with the chicken.
• Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat.
• Lower heat, cover and simmer 10 minutes.
• Add thawed okra, recover and cook until the rice is tender, about ten minutes.

TRADITIONAL CHICKEN GUMBO WITH OKRA

Steps:

• Prior to heating pot, chop all vegetables.
• To make the roux: Heat a large heavy bottomed stock pot over a medium high flame.
• Once hot, add the oil. Stir in the flour, reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring constantly until the color of the flour/oil mixture is somewhere between the color of coffee with cream and black coffee. Do not allow this to scorch or burn- if this happens start process over.
• Once the roux is cooked to a deep color, add the onions, garlic, celery, peppers, salt and pepper. Allow to cook, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes.
• Pour in the chicken broth and 6 cups of the water, stir. If desired, us all broth for the liquid and no water.
• Stir in the Creole Seasoning. NOTE- the homemade Creole Seasoning has no salt. If you use a purchased product, such as Tony Chachere's, there is salt in most products. Please observe and adjust seasoning to accomodate these differences.
• Allow to cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes. Taste broth and add additional salt as desired. If gumbo appears too thick at any point in the cooking, add more water.
• Add the chicken thighs to the pot. The thighs may be boneless/skinless, or remove the skin from whole thighs. Thigh meat will remain moist.
• Allow the chicken to cook for about 45 minutes. Remove chicken pieces from stock. Place on plate to allow to cool.
• Once you have removed the chicken, add the sliced okra. Allow to cook in the broth for about 30 minutes.
• After the chicken has cooled for about 30 minutes, remove meat from the bones, and dice the cooked meat. Add to the pot.
• Taste and adjust seasonings to taste. To add heat, you may use cayenne pepper. If you wish to season with salt and heat, Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning is a commonly used spice blend.
• Serve over cooked white rice- Uncle Ben's is most authentic.
• Recipe Notes: When storing leftovers, do not stir the rice into the gumbo. Keep rice and gumbo separate until ready to serve. If you add seafood to this gumbo, put it in at the very end of the cooking process- it only takes a few minutes for shrimp, crab, or oysters to cook. If you choose to add aliced andouille sausage or a couple hot links, put it in at the same time you add the okra.