Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

I realize that this recipe is coming out a little too late if anyone was looking to make it for Mardi Gras this year, but it's worth having in your arsenal and it's something you could make any day of the year and be happy with.

When we lived in New Orleans we were introduced to many new foods. Many of them were traditional southern style dishes and I fell in love with the deep richness that so often accompanied the meals we tried. Gumbo was one of my favorites because the ingredients were fairly simple but there was so much depth to it.

Red Velvet Cake

I never had Red Velvet cake until after I was married which basically means I lost 22 years of eating the best cake in the world. This cake shows up for pretty much every birthday in my wife's family so I got my fair share in pretty short time. I'm typically not a huge cake fan, so if I'm I'm going to eat cake, it had better be good. This Red Velvet is about the only cake I truly look forward to eating. It's light, fluffy and moist with a light chocolate flavor and the frosting is what really sets it apart. It's roux based, meaning it's made from a flour and milk mixture that is cooked first and then whipped into the rest of the frosting. The result is a velvety smooth creme with a flavor that is unlike anything I've ever had before.

Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo

We moved to Mandeville, Louisiana (just outside of New Orleans) just a day before Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. We were there for just a year but the experiences we had in helping to rebuild, the friendships we made and of course the food, will always be a part of us. So this month when the Daring Cooks announced the challenge was Gumbo, I was pretty excited. I had some great gumbo while we were in New Orleans but I've never tried to make it myself.