Gumbo recipes are usually thickened with a roux made with quite a bit of oil, but this Chicken and Sausage Gumbo we had a few days ago uses a different method to lighten up the dish. I wouldn't say this method saves a lot of time, but it does cut down on the calories. All you need to do is slowly toast the flour over medium heat until it begins to turn a light golden color, a little darker than the shade of straw. You can also do this in the oven, but using the stove-top allows to you easily stir it and be able to watch it closely so it does not burn. Just be patient - however, once it starts to turn color, it can go from brown to burnt in no time.
The base flavors come from sauteed onions, red bell pepper, celery and onion - once those have softened, chunks of lean chicken and smoked sausage are added and allowed to cook. Fire-roasted diced tomatoes, chicken broth and seasonings are added and the mixture bubbles away, allowing the flavors to converge. The recipe does call for two cans of tomatoes, but don't miss the part where one of them is drained of excess liquid while the other is not. I was expecting the gumbo to be a bit thicker than what we ended up with, but since we were serving it over brown basmati rice, it ended up being just about right as the rice absorbed some of the flavorful juices. Mixing the smoked sausage with the chicken was a nice touch to add some richness to the gumbo - be sure to serve some extra hot sauce on the side so you can spice it up as it could have used a bit more heat for us.
