Tonight's menu:
Gumbo YaYa over rice


Disclaimer: I have never been to New Orleans, or even to Louisiana, so I have no idea if this is would be considered an authentic recipe, but I do know that we both found it delicious enough to go for seconds which is saying a lot considering my firsts was a huge bowlfull. It had a completely unique, new-to-me flavor but still provided all the proper cues to make it seem like major comfort food. It was so, so good that I can't wait to be hungry again so I can eat some more.

The recipe makes enough to feed an army. I cut it in half, and I'd say there's still enough left for another two generous meals each for both of us. I know it doesn't look like much, but trust me when I say that this is the perfect dish to pull out of your pocket when you've exhausted your cold weather repertoire of chilli, soup, and as we say in midwestern, hot dish.

(BTW, I used a store bought, rotisserie chicken instead of roasting my own. Gasp. But hey, its the first time I've EVER bought one of those!)

Speaking of unique flavor, I assume that a lot of the character of this dish can be attributed to the long cooked, dark roux with which I had no prior experience. I'll say it's a little freaky, really, cooking that butter and flour until it's dark brown and smelly and making me need to turn on the hood. I would have probably chickened out and quit early (and way short of "dark mahogany") had I not seen this done once on one of those great, old school cooking shows. Remeber those? The kind of shows that you could really learn something from because they favored technique and real skills over tarty personality, invented celebri-"chefs" and cuisine-d'idiot-ness?
sigh.
I miss those....