New Orleans Gumbo

I have never seriously looked at a gumbo recipe before, because I always think they are going to be too spicy, or they have a bunch of seafood in there that I don't care for. But this one looked fairly benign, PLUS it has smoked sausage, which I love. It does call for shrimp, but it's way down on the ingredient list, and I already liked the sound of the recipe before I got to the shrimp. Instead of using shrimp, I used a whole pound of smoked sausage, instead of the 1/2 pound it called for. This is the last one I have marked from the latest Simple & Delicious...hopefully I'll get my new one soon...

New Orleans Gumbo
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup uncooked converted rice
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 lb smoked sausage, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp pepper
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (I used 1/8 tsp)
3 tbsp flour
1/4 cup cold water
1 lb uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (so gross...as I type that, I wonder why anyone would cook something that you personally have to remove the veins from first...gag)
1 large green pepper, chopped
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

In a large saucepan, bring broth to a boil. Stir in the rice, celery, onion, and garlic. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven, combine the tomatoes, chicken, smoked sausage, thyme, pepper, bay leaves and cayenne. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Combine flour and water til smooth; gradually stir into chicken mixture. Stir in shrimp and green pepper. Cook, uncovered, over medium heat for 4-6 minutes or until shrimp turn pink and gumbo is thickened. Discard bay leaves.

Remove rice from heat and let stand for 5 minutes; stir in parsley. Serve with gumbo.

So this was good, but too spicy for us. Nathan put a bite in his mouth, then said, with his mouth full of food, "IT TASTES SPICY, LIKE HOT SAUCE!" I promised him I hadn't put hot sauce in it, because I hadn't...but it was close. I just scraped everything visible covering his sausage and chicken, and he still ate them...for him & Emma I put the rice separate from the "gumbo" because I knew they wouldn't like them together, and that helped. For the rest of us I served it on rice. Steve didn't think it was too spicy, but the rest of us did. Not too spicy to eat, but definitely too spicy to ignore. Also the gumbo didn't really thicken that much. I put in the flour and water like it said too, but it didn't seem to make a big difference, and mine looked quite a bit different from the picture, and not just because of the absence of shrimp. So this is one of these recipes that my dad would say, "good for a change, but let's not have it again real soon."