Un-Gumbo

I don't like okra. It's okay in gumbo but, if I'm going to go through the trouble to make gumbo, I'm not going to add stuff I don't particularly care for.  However, my dad recently clued me in to the fact that "gumbo" means "okra". So if your gumbo doesn't have okra in it, it isn't gumbo. Ergo, the recipe for un-gumbo.

Un-Gumbo
2 T sunflower oil (you can use any oil you like)
4 links of chicken/turkey sausage, about 1 lb. (I use Applegate Farms Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage)
1 large leek, cleaned and chopped. Use two if they are skimpy (you can substitute a sweet onion, like Vidalia)
1 large green pepper, chopped
2  ribs of celery, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
couple of dashes of thyme or one sprig of fresh
2 cups chicken broth* (or 1 can)
2 cups cooked whole tomatoes**, or 1-14.5 oz. can of diced or plum tomatoes
salt to taste
cayenne to taste

*I cannot use commercial chicken broth, so whenever I cook a bone-in chicken, whether it's whole or just the leg quarters, I save the bones and skin and leftover bits in the freezer and boil that carcass into broth when I need it. It only takes about 30 minutes, and you know what's in it. 

**I do use canned tomatoes quite often. At the end of each summer, however, I buy a ton of second-quality tomatoes for cheap at the local farm stand and spend a day (usually labor day weekend) making a ton of tomato sauce and cooked tomatoes. Since I do not know how to can and am fearful that any canning experiment may result in poisoning my whole family with botulism, I freeze the cooked tomatoes in 2-cup bags in my freezer.  By March, I've used it all up in braising, soups, stews, and pasta sauce.

Okay, this is a one pot dish, but you will dirty one additional bowl--oh pity--after you brown the sausage.  Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large, heavy-bottomed soup pot or dutch oven. Slice the sausage into 1/2 inch rounds and brown it in the oil--about 3 minutes per side.  Spoon out the sausage and reserve. 

Put the chopped leeks, green pepper, celery, garlic and thyme in the pan and lower the heat to medium.  Cook the veggies, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon until golden and very tender, about 15 or as long as 20 minutes.

Add the sausage back in and pour in the broth and tomatoes.  Add salt and a few dashes of cayenne.  Heat to boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. 

You can serve this over quinoa, brown rice, or on it's own. Even by itself, the mix of flavors fools your palate and your belly into thinking you just ate a LOT more food than you did.

Warning: if you are on a food rotation diet, this breaks every rule, unless you are allowed to eat food from the lily family, the nightshade family, and the celery/carrot family all in one day. But, hey, you only live once, right?

I still think it's gumbo.