Almost the last meal of the year

The weather is officially cold, and most of the time the house is too.  At least I think it is!  Today I decided to make gumbo.  I used to make this all the time, when I used a box mix...tee hee.  Several years ago a friend gave me an authentic New Orleans recipe.  So now I only make this once or twice a year, it takes a long time to prep, and make.  Seriously, prepare to stand in the kitchen chopping for half an hour, and over the stove stirring for an hour, and then you are still not done...I didn't follow the recipe exactly, I never do!  And I realize that I have blogged this before, but it is so fun!

Prep the chicken, season and stick in the refrigerator

Then prep the vegetables and sausage, topping with the seasonings that belong with each step, garlic with the onions, and salt and peppers with the sausage and bay.

Then it's time to start the roux, this takes the longest!

Oil and flour in a pot

stir

when it's brown like chocolate (20-30 minutes later) 

add the vegetables! (watch for the steam!!!!)

Cook for 4 minutes

Then....add the sausage, salt, seasonings and bay leaf

Another 3 minutes

then time to add the water and whisk like crazy to get the roux dissolved!

Bring to a boil then reduce to medium low for 1 hour, stirring occasionally!

Once the hour is up, you can add the chicken, and cook for another 2 hours then skim off any fat that has come to the surface.  Remove the bay leaf.  In the meantime, chop the green onion and parsley.

Remove from heat and stir in the file, parsley, green onion and okra (if you are using this, and oh yes I am!)

You also add the shrimp right now...otherwise it can overcook...Cover, and in 7 minutes this is ready to serve over rice! You can also add some hot sauce if it doesn't already have enough kick!

Enjoy!

Bacon in that recipe? I'm on it!

Any recipe that starts with frying up bacon has me interested. I'll try any recipe once.

I don't remember where I came across the recipe for Bacon, Gruyere and Green Onion Scones, probably on Pinterest. I find a lot of recipe ideas there.  This one seemed fairly simple.  And I'm in the mood to cook! Of course I made more bacon than what the recipe called for, mostly because I would have ended up with 3 random pieces of bacon, and they made for good snacking while I worked in the kitchen.

After getting out the ingredients I would need for this recipe I started grating the cheese and chopping the green onions and put them in bowls for later.


Mix up or sift the dry ingredients together then it's time to cut in the butter. This is best done by hand, I tried to use the mixer, no go...

Once the butter has been cut in, toss the bacon, cheese, green onions and pepper in

Mix it well

Add the buttermilk.

Mix it till it forms a dough and shape it into a round and refrigerate for 30 minutes or so.

My oven doesn't take long to preheat, so I didn't turn it on until the 30 minutes were up.

Roll the dough out to about 1/2 inch thick (this was a pain as the dough wanted to stick to the rolling pin...but I managed...) and you can cut it into rounds, or as I decided to do triangles, I don't know why but when I think scones I think triangles...

I don't use parchment paper, I put my scones on my silpat mats...and then brushed them with the heavy cream.  Good thing I made ice cream the other night...I have leftover heavy cream for this!

Into the oven they go for 20-25 minutes watching for that perfect golden brown.

Once they are done you can serve them warm with some honey butter, or whatever you want.  If you make them in advance just warm them up for a few seconds in the microwave.

Warm, flaky, a bit spicy...and totally yummy!  Enjoy!