Chicken Gumbo

A flavoursome and easy to prepare midweek meal. Unfortunately I had to eat it so quickly to get somewhere on time, I really didn't have the chance to enjoy it. I found the recipe on the tesco grocery website in their meal planning section, which is very handy when you run out of ideas. 

Added:
I had a fair amount of the sauce left over and added some vegetable stock to it and pureed it to make a really good soup with a great spicy flavour. 

Ingredients

Serves 4
1tbsp olive oil
500g (16oz) skinless chicken thighs, cut into chunks
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 sticks celery, finely diced
1 green pepper, deseeded and diced (I used red pepper as I prefer them)
1 bay leaf
2tbsp plain flour
1tbsp Cajun seasoning
400g chopped tomatoes
250ml (8fl oz) chicken stock
175g (6oz) okra (or 1 additional green pepper, cut into chunks)
2tbsp finely chopped fresh sagecrusty bread, to serve

Method
Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes to brown all over – you may need to do this in 2 batches. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
Add the onion, garlic, celery, green pepper (plus extra pepper if you’re not using okra), and bay leaf to the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan, then stir in the flour and Cajun seasoning and cook for 30 seconds.
Add the tomatoes, stock, okra (if using) and sage, bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for another 5 minutes, then season to taste and serve with crusty bread.

A wintery sunrise this morning