But, if we back up a bit, you can see that I actually engineered this. The weekend before, I happened to have one of my favorite cookbooks in my purse at church, from cooking dinner with a friend the night before. While chatting with Brian after church, I happened to mention that this was one of the my favorite cookbooks and asked if he'd like to borrow it. While flipping through it, he casually said "oh this soup looks good," to which I responded "if you make it, you better invite me to dinner!" With a flip of my pretty, curled (on purpose, duh) hair, I then sauntered out of church, my devious plan having been set in motion. Two days later, ta-da, the gumbo email asking me to dinner!
(If he were writing this, I know he'd contend that he would have asked me out anyway. Whatever. It's my blog and I'm totally the brains behind this operation.)
The date itself was fantastic- the gumbo was delicious (a 30 minute roux. He made a 30 minute roux.) I whipped up some cornbread in the cast iron skillet I had tucked in my purse, Mary Poppins-style, and then pulled out blueberry cobbler. Neither of us stood much of a chance after that.
Last weekend we decided a repeat of the gumbo was in order. The cookbook that I lent Brian is Cooking Up a Storm, Recipes Lost and Found from the Times-Picayune of New Orleans, edited by Marcelle Bienvenu and Judy Walker. I love this book and think it would be a wonderful addition to anyone's kitchen, so I'm not going to post the recipe outright. However, here is a chicken and sausage gumbo recipe from the Times-Picayune website that is basically exactly the same. I don't use the file powder.
Trinity being stirred into the roux.
Chicken rubbed down with salt and cayenne. Don't skimp on the cayenne.
We didn't have a pot big enough!
Playing bananagrams while the gumbo cooks. (Brian wants me to tell you he won. I don't remember that part.)
Pictured: Gumbo, hard cider, Carolina cup and 8 month cake. (Coming soon!)
;)
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