Yesterday I finally got to cook some food so I spent all day in the kitchen. My favorite kind of Sunday.

I made a dish from the Cooking Up A Storm cookbook. The dish was Chicken and Sausage gumbo.

I’m going to try to take you step by step through my process with photos below.

Ingredients:

1   4-5 lb chicken cut into serving pieces
Salt
Cayenne pepper
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chopped yellow onions
1 cup chopped green bell peppers
1/2 cup chopped celery
About 2 1/2 quarts chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 lb andouille sausage sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/4 cup chopped green onions (white and green parts)
2 tbs chopped fresh parsley
Hot cooked rice for serving

First I combined the oil and flower to make the roux. I stirred it very often for about 45 minutes till brown.

Here it is after about 20 mins. It’s a little darker

This is after about 45 minutes. It’s pretty dark. I probably should have made it a little darker but I was getting impatient so I moved on to the next step.

Next I added the chopped onion, bell pepper and celery.

I cooked this for about 10 minutes till the vegetables were really soft.

I added the chicken broth, stirred to blend well, then I added the bay leaf, thyme and chicken and brought it to a boil. Once it was boiling, I lowered it to a simmer and cooked it for 3 hours.

After 3 hours I added the sausage, green onions and the parsley. I tasted it to check the seasonings. I then added some cayenne pepper and some salt. Boy was it good!

I also made a seafood gumbo that I’ll give the recipe for at another time.

So my Sunday dinner consisted of 2 kinds of gumbo and some delicious corn bread pancakes.
The corn bread pancakes were good but I still need to perfect this a little bit.

For lunch today I made corn chowder. I’ve never made it before but I needed to use the corn I picked up on Sunday from the Farmers Market.
I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. I think it will be even better tomorrow. One thing I’d probably do different next time is to either use whole milk instead of 2% or cut down on the lowfat milk and mix some heavy cream with it.

The recipe is after the photos. Note: I quadrupled the recipe because I like to have a lot of leftovers.

The picture below is step 2 of the recipe. You add the stripped corn cobs to the soup to help make the broth. They get removed after 30 minutes.

Corn Chowder Recipe

[...]

I went to the Asian market (Sunset Super) yesterday and picked up a bushel of oysters for $29.99. We cooked them up on the grill for lunch.

There was too much for us to finish so with the leftovers I threw together an oyster chowder. I’ve never made it before but I winged it. I fried up some chopped bacon. After they cooked I removed them and cooked up some chopped celery, onions, carrots and bell peppers for about 10 minutes. Then I added some smashed garlic and cooked it for a minute. I then added a cup of white wine, 2 cups of heavy cream and some diced potatoes. I simmered it till the potatoes were cooked then added the leftover oysters and their juices. It was fantastic!

Photos of the chowder will hopefully be coming soon.

Another place I frequent often in Japantown is a place called Tanpopo. I found out about this place from a Japanese friend of mine named Sonoo. I asked what the best Japanese noodle place was in the City and she immediately said Tanpopo. They specialize in ramen soup. They also have a ton of sake choices. I always get the same thing when I go here.

Karamiso Ramen, which is spicy miso flavor soup with boiled bean sprouts and sliced chashu pork. It is a huge bowl and really spicy. I am sweating bullets by the time I’m done eating it but it is delicious. It costs $8.50.

For appetizer I get Rebanira itame, which is sauteed beef liver & vegetables but since I didn’t have my glasses, I accidentally ordered Reba Karaage, which is deep fried beef liver. I was bummed out at first but it was actually very good. Cost – $5.50

I had a large bottle of Asahi beer to drink.

I left here tonight with a food high. Just enough beer to give me a slight buzz and just enough food to be quite full but not in a food coma.

Tanpopo on Yelp

Total cost: $21.90

I saw photos of our show at the
Bottom of The Hill and realized for the first time in my life I need to lose some weight. I know I should completely cut out beer for awhile but I think I’m gonna start off with cutting my drinking in half. I’m also going to cut down the portions and not eat after 6 pm. Dinner on the first day of the diet consists of a seaweed salad, miso soup and a fine Sapporo lager. Actually I’m pretty stuffed.

Michael Butler makes Chicken n Dumplings
Recipe after the break:

Ingredients
Chicken:

* 1 (2 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces
* 3 ribs celery, chopped
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 2 bay leaves
* 2 chicken bouillon cubes
* 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed cream of celery or cream of chicken soup

Dumplings:

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon salt
* Ice water

Directions

To start the chicken: Place the chicken, celery, onion, bay leaves, bouillon, and House Seasoning in a large pot. Add 4 quarts of water and in water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer the chicken until it is tender and the thigh juices run clear, about 40 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pot and, when it is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and separate the meat from the bones. Return the chicken meat to the pot. Keep warm over low heat.

To prepare the dumplings: Mix the flour with the salt and mound together in a mixing bowl. Beginning at the center of the mound, drizzle a small amount of ice water over the flour. Using your fingers, and moving from the center to the sides of the bowl, gradually incorporate about 3/4 cup of ice water. Knead the dough and form it into ball.

Dust a good amount of flour onto a clean work surface. Roll out the dough (it will be firm), working from center to 1/8-inch thick. Let the dough relax for several minutes.

Add the cream of celery soup to the pot with the chicken and simmer gently over medium-low heat.

Cut the dough into 1-inch pieces. Pull a piece in half and drop the halves into the simmering soup. Repeat. Do not stir the chicken once the dumplings have been added. Gently move the pot in a circular motion so the dumplings become submerged and cook evenly. Cook until the dumplings float and are no longer doughy, 3 to 4 minutes.

To serve, ladle chicken, gravy, and dumplings into warm bowls.

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