Greetings fellow culinary enthusiasts! This column will be dedicated to giving you traditional recipes rewritten in a quick and easy way. For our first recipe, we will prepare gumbo. I know what you are thinking….gumbo takes several hours to prepare. Not this time….I got it figured out…stay with me.

Gumbo

Add 3 generous tablespoons of vegetable oil to a metal pot over medium high heat. Add 3 generous tablespoons of flour to the oil and stir consistently. The mixture (roux) will turn from white to red to black quickly. Before the roux turns black (burnt), whisk in 3 cups of chicken stock. Add 1 ½ cups of the holy trinity (celery, bell pepper and onion), two cups of precooked Andouille sausage, two cups of precooked chicken and two cups of peeled/deveined uncooked shrimp. Then whisk in about one tablespoon of tomato paste and salt, pepper, and Tabasco and file to taste. Simmer until shrimp are pink.

Serve over rice and invite your friends. Approximate cooking time 30 minutes and serves 4 to 6 people. Friends from Louisiana will argue with you about this recipe but tell them to taste it first.