GUMBO YA-YA

On the day after Thanksgiving I am thankful for the afternoon spent cooking up gen-u-wine File Gumbo with YoungerSon/#1 Chef. (We did live in Cajun country for one year.) Though, truth be told, he did the hard part--the roux--to perfection, while I mostly chopped vegetables--green pepper, celery and onions. Chef Emeril calls this combination the "holy trinity," and considers it essential to most Cajun recipes. My other important part of this undertaking was stirring said roux, while #1 Chef ran around the house flinging open windows to prevent the smoke alarm from going off and waking napping children.

For those of you who wish to try it, ingredients consist of: freshly made stock from yesterday's turkey carcass; the fragrant, chocolate brown roux; file spice; grilled andouille sausages; mucho garlic; jalapeno peppers; couple of bay leaves; unfortunately no okra--both our mates were unenthused about that ingredient; served over rice with garlic bread and India Pale Ale. Pinot Noir for the Chef's Assistant (that would be me); left over pumpkin pie; leftover apple pie with cheddar wedge; a full moon rising over the desert saguaro, and it just doesn't get any better than this!

- mimi