Chicken, Greens, and Christmas Ham Gumbo
She's a mad woman. She'll put ham in everything. She cannot be stopped.
It’s February, and I promise you my Christmas ham is safely in the freezer (and hopefully yours is too). But it needs to be used up! And you might have some greens that are languishing in the bottom of the crisper that will go slimy tomorrow, a bunch of celery that gives you a gentle wave as you pull it out of the fridge, and a capsicum that you don’t quite remember buying but it was probably part of your New Years health kick. And that’s where this tasty Southern stew comes in.
Obviously this is not a proper original recipe and I have taken inspiration from the Gumbo makers that have gone before me (likely first made by enslaved people from Central Africa), but this is my version using what we can get here in Australia (which skips the okra and/or file, which, even though we can get it, can sometimes be hard to find). It’s actually a combination of Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, and Gumbo Z’Herbes. It’s one of those ones where if you get rid of all the meat, it will still taste as good.
I have also been a bit of a coward when it comes to my roux. I made a peanut butter roux. I just couldn’t bring myself to make it a dark roux. Maybe that will be my next culinary challenge - trying not to freak out when the roux looks burnt.
One more thing - this recipe makes A LOT. Maybe save it for a party or a family get together, or batch cooking to freeze.
You will need: A big pot, a big stirring spoon, a wooden stirring spoon, a chopping board, a decent knife, and a rice cooker or other pot to cook rice in
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Ingredients
1 bunch Chinese broccoli
1 bunch silverbeet
1 whole small cabbage or 1/4 large cabbage
400g chicken thighs, cut into large bitesized pieces
300g Christmas ham or speck
1-2 chorizo (about 100g-200g)
1 zucchini
1 carrot
1 capsicum
1 onion
2 ribs celery
4 cloves garlic
4 spring onions
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch coriander
4 sprigs thyme
2 bay leaves
1 cup plain flour
1 cup olive oil
Method
Chop! Chop chop chop chop chop. Lotsa chopping. So much chopping. You were born chopping and you will die chopping. At least, that’s what it feels like until you get through all of the greens. You may need to get help with this.
Chiffonade the silverbeet and gai lan, and finely slice the cabbage.
Dice the capsicum, carrot, and onion into a soffritto.
Chop the parsley. Finely dice the stalks for use in the beginning of the cooking process, to flavour the dish. Chop the leaves into large chunks to add to the dish later, or use as a garnish.
Cut the zucchini into small pieces and keep in a separate bowl.
Slice up the chorizo and the ham or speck into bitesized pieces.
Put the chorizo and ham in the pot with some oil and render the fat on low heat. Once the fat has flavoured the oil, take the chorizo and ham out, and set it aside for later.
Fry the chicken in batches to get some browning onto the pieces. They don’t need to be cooked through, as they’ll cook in the stew.
Time to make the roux. You can do this. I believe in you. First pour all the oil into the ham flavoured pot, then the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine.
Keep it on a medium-low heat and keep stirring until it looks like peanut butter. You can keep going, continuously stirring and keeping it on an even heat, until it’s a chocolate colour, but I am not that brave.
Once the roux is a nice colour, add the soffritto. Add the garlic, thyme, spring onions, and bay leaves. Add the meats back in. Might as well add the zucchini, too.
Once the sofritto, herbs, meats, and zucchini that I can’t quite remember now why I included are cooking nicely, add all the leafy greens and let them cook down.
Add about a litre of water. You can use stock but I see stock as vaguely vegetable flavoured water.
Once your greens are definitely cooked down and taking up less space, add the cabbage and let it cook down.
Simmer the gumbo on low for at least an hour.
Serve with rice, which I did not realise until I was halfway through that we didn’t have in the cupboard. We had bread instead.
