Sausage Gumbo Bake

Welcome back to the All Things Southern kitchen folks! It’s that time of the year. When the weather starts teasing us with the occasional cool morning certain dishes coe to mind and one of them is my Sausage Gumbo Bake. My gumbo bake is a lot like my big southern family, it’s got a little bit of everything in it. And no, I will not be elaborating on that, *grin* Let’s get cooking!

Sausage Gumbo Bake

1 pound fully cooked smoked sausage, cut into 1/4 inch slices
Half a bag of frozen diced green peppers and onions
1 (10 ounce) can Rotel with green chilies
16 ounces of chicken broth
1 (16 ounce) package frozen okra
1 cup rice, uncooked
2-3 tablespoons melted butter
2 cloves minced garlic
1 (12 ounce) frozen French bread, open and sliced into ½ inch slices
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

We’ll begin by sautéing our peppers and onions in butter. In a separate skillet we’ll brown our smoked sausage, remove it from the skillet, and set it aside to make a little roux. We’ll do that by adding about three tablespoons of butter to our skillet. Once it melts, we’ll add an equal amount of flour and let it cook, stirring constantly until it’s nice and brown, or as we say, “next door to burnt”. Be patient, it will take five or six minutes to reach a light brown color, a bit longer if you like it darker. Once the color is right, whisk in a couple cups of cold water and turn the heat down until it thickens. That will be our signal to return the sausage to our roux along with our peppers and onions. We’ll cook it on low a couple of minutes before adding a can of tomatoes and about sixteen ounces of chicken broth. Then we’ll stir in our frozen okra, butter, and uncooked rice and season with minced garlic and a good Cajun seasoning. We’ll bring this all to a boil and pour it in a large baking dish.

Cover and bake at 425 degrees for thirty minutes. Afterwards we’ll top with French bread slices, leave it uncovered, and bake it another ten minutes or so. Just long enough to whip up a salad and pour the sweet tea. Yum! That, friends, is my Sausage Gumbo Bake and it’s mighty good eating, from the All Things Southern kitchen to yours!

Hugs, Shellie