Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo

Our city had some uncharacteristically crummy winter weather last weekend, which was all the motivation we needed to stay in and cook up some Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. This recipe comes from one of our favorite celebrity chefs, John Besh. You may remember Chef Besh from last week's king cake, and this is one of our other favorites from his NOLA cooking bible, My New Orleans.

This is another one of those low-maintenance, leisurely meals, so if you're looking for something quick, click elsewhere! The sense of satisfaction you'll get from the first spoonful, however, is worth it. Your guests will rave about its rich, smoky flavor and plentiful carnage - and by the way, invite a crowd, because this recipe serves 10-12 hungry people.

If you're intimidated by Besh's use of a cut whole chicken in this recipe, don't be. For one thing, the gumbo cooks so long that the meat falls directly off the bone - yeah, we had visions of our guests fishing drippy drumsticks out of the stock pot, too! And if you're put off by the thought of portioning a whole chicken, just go buy a package of breasts, a package of thighs, and a package of legs.

The first step is to prepare a roux, which, for the uninitiated, is an oil and flour mixture that forms the silky basis for many rich Cajun dishes. A cup of oil and a cup of all-purpose flour are combined in a very large, heavy stock pot and are whisked continuously for 15 minutes over medium-high to high heat.

Your roux will take on a luxurious dark brown color as it's heated. If at any point in your whisking the mixture begins to smell burned, move immediately to the next step, which is to add 2 large, diced onions and dial the heat back to medium low for 10 minutes. The onions will introduce some moisture back into the roux, which, along with the reduced temperatures, will keep it from scorching.

While the onions are simmering in the roux, the chicken can be seasoned. Besh recommends his signature blend of Cajun spices, which we make periodically and store in an airtight container in our pantry. If you don't have time to blend these, or aren't sure if you like them, some Tony Chachere's or any other bottled Cajun spice mixture will work just fine.

Sprinkle the chicken with your choice of spices and incorporate it into the roux, allowing each piece of chicken to brown along the bottom of the pot.

Next, add the smoked sausage, celery, bell

peppers, tomatoes, and garlic. Allow those flavors to meld for 3 minutes before adding the thyme, chicken stock, and bay leaves. (The photo at left is pre-chicken stock.) Raise the heat and bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and allow the gumbo to simmer for 45 minutes.

As the gumbo cooks, bits of the chicken skin will begin to float to the surface. No one wants to eat soggy chicken skin (well, no one we know, at least!), so drag your spoon through the mixture periodically, fishing out the fat and skin.

When the 45 minutes is up, you can incorporate the andouille, okra, and Worchestershire sauce. Andouille isn't something that most stores around the country keep stocked, so any sort of smoked or pre-cooked pork sausage should suffice.

Once those ingredients are incorporated, more seasoning is added - because if there's one thing good Cajuns do, it's add flavor! (Now do you understand why we're such flavor snobs when we review dishes?)

After the seasoning is added, the gumbo must simmer for another 45 minutes. (It can go even longer than that if you need it to.) While you're waiting, it's a good time to prepare the rice over which you're going to serve your wonderful feast. Besh offers his own special recipe for Basic White Rice in his book, but any long grain white rice will work just fine.

Get a load of that gumbo, will you? We dare you to eat just one bowl, it's that good. Perfect for a rainy (or snowy) weekend day, and it should yield some great lunch leftovers, too!

Usually we don't offer the Yuppie Test Kitchen Favorites crown to dishes that take a long time to prepare, but for this masterpiece we're comfortable making an exception. The truth is, as much as we love quick and easy cooking, we love plain old cooking even more, and learning from the masters is sometimes worth a little extra effort.

We suppose you could make a quick "gumbo" somehow, or let one simmer all day in a crock pot, but you probably wouldn't be able to taste the love that comes with a good roux.

Chipotle Peanut Brittle

Ladies and gentlemen, we have pictures! Don't ask us how we managed this feat with the most high-maintenance recipe of the holiday, but we pulled it off with our Chipotle Peanut Brittle (Cooking Light, May 2009).

When we say high-maintenance, we mean it. This recipe moves fast, so be sure to have all of your ingredients AND all of your implements out, measured, and ready before you fire up the stove.

Particularly, make sure you have a rolling pin that fits the jelly roll pan you plan to use. Do not - we repeat, do NOT - use the trick of an aluminum can, because the can conducts heat! (We're embarrassed to say that we learned this lesson the hard way) Also, be sure you have 2 sheets of parchment paper cut and coated with cooking spray at the ready.

First, the sugar, corn syrup, and sugar are combined in a saucepan over medium high heat. The recipe recommends a temperature, but if you don't have a candy thermometer, just be watchful of the mixture as it caramelizes. It should start to turn a little brown, the color of a light, milky mocha, but not dark. The picture at right is a good yardstick for those flying solo.

Next, the peanuts are added and the mixture is stirred constantly for 3 additional minutes. Then, the chipotle pepper and baking soda are added, which should cause the mixture to bubble - it's quickly removed from the stove and poured out onto one of the waiting sheets of parchment.

The other piece of parchment is placed on top, oiled side facing the brittle mixture, and the brittle mixture is rolled out with a rolling pin. (Not a can - we're serious!) The top piece of parchment can then be removed to ensure that it doesn't stick. The mixture will require about 30 minutes to cool, at which point it can be broken into pieces and stored in an air-tight container.

The ground chipotle imparts a fiery heat to this brittle, so unadventurous eaters beware! It can easily be omitted or cut in half, if preferred, but trust us, your holiday guests will get a kick out of the unexpected kick.

Mini Caprese Bites

When planning any party menu, we like to make sure we have a couple of vegetarian options available for those who are living la vida meatless, or just trying to be extra disciplined. The trouble is that the veggie appetizers we find are often boring and uninspired. That's why, when we saw the image accompanying Mini Caprese Bites (Cooking Light, May 2008), we knew we had found a winner.

Sure, a caprese salad isn't mindblowingly unique, but it's definitely a step above a crudités platter. And showcasing brilliant red cherry tomatoes, it adds a whimsical pop of color to any buffet table.

A pint of cherry tomatoes is halved, then each pair of halves is threaded onto 4-inch skewers, with a slice of a mozzarella ball placed in between. The Popsicle-like presentation wowed our guests; we stood some up in a glass just as the photo editors at Cooking Light did, then fanned and stacked the rest out across a platter. With all the skewers assembled, we drizzled them with a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and fresh basil.

Aside from the color, the most beautiful thing about this dish is that the preparation can easily delegated to a random house guest. You know how it is - you're doing last-minute set-up, and the doorbell rings. Your guests rush in, chatting, and offer a well-meaning, "What can I help you with?" Rarely is there ever an easy answer, but from now on, just hand them a package of skewers and a pint of tomatoes, and say, "I've got just the thing...."

Mini Roast Beef and Horseradish Panini Triangles

First off, we'd like to apologize for the lack of pictures on this particular recipe. It was about this time that our first guests arrived, and in the midst of all the commotion, we simply forgot about blogging!

In search of hearty appetizers to prepare for this year's Christmas party, we ran across Mini Roast Beef and Horseradish Panini Triangles from Williams-Sonoma. We were enticed by the quick prep work, bulk quantities (we doubled our batch for even more), and flavorful ingredients - and our guests just lapped them up!

These tasty little sandwiches take very little work to assemble, but you'll be best served to prepare them assembly-line style, with 2 or more people. We broke up our workload by having Mrs. Yuppie prepare the sandwiches for the panini grill, and our new roommate, Tom, handle the pressing and slicing. Working in such a way, we cranked out about 40 of these suckers in less than half an hour.

A side note: Although the recipe says to serve these warm, they were still delicious at room temperature. Actually, the next time we make these, we may try to prepare and refrigerate them a few hours to one day in advance, then warm them up quickly in the oven before placing them on a tray for service.

Sugared Pecans

Let's start with an old standby, shall we? Well, old might be an overstatement - we found this recipe for Sugared Pecans (Southern Living, Dec 2007) while preparing for last year's Christmas party and were blown away by how easy and tasty they were. An added bonus is that you'll have most of these items on-hand already. (And if you're like us, you'll probably already have the pecans, too!)

This recipe is such a cinch to put together - simply whisk together the egg white and sugars, then fold in the pecans. Spread the coated pecans out on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and into the oven they go for about 20 minutes. You'll want to check on them once or twice and stir them around, to make certain that the pecans bake evenly and don't begin to burn. They'll need to cool for 30 minutes prior to storage.

According to the recipe, these can be stored in plasticware for 3 days before serving. (Bonus: Make double or triple batches and freeze some for later!) Good luck keeping them around for 3 days, though - Mr. Yuppie just can't keep his mitts off of them, and they're usually polished off by holiday guests within an hour of their arrival!

For an inexhaustible list of reasons, these pecans are most definitely on the short list of YTK Favorites. Try them this holiday week and let us know what you think in the comments!

Crunchy Pecan Pie Bites

Howdy, y'all! Sorry for our recent AWOL status, but we've been whipping up goodies for our annual Christmas party and now we're ready to start sharing! Every year we pick a specific cuisine around which to build our menu, and this year, bite-sized southern treats were the star.

True to our life philosophy, we're starting off this entertaining series right: dessert first! And our inaugural treat is a little something called Crunchy Pecan Pie Bites (Cooking Light, Nov 2008). We were drawn to this recipe for its simplicity, and hoped that the taste wouldn't suffer. Let us be the first to tell you: We were NOT disappointed!

These little nuggets of joy kept our guests nibbling all night, and required little more than mixing some ingredients in a bowl. The mini pie shells are store-bought, flaky phyllo cups. We found them in packages of 15 at our specialty grocer. With 5 boxes, as the recipe recommends, we ended up with a whopping 75 pies to feed our guests!

First, the nuts are toasted, a step that could be skipped in a pinch but which lends some extra depth to the flavor. While they're cooling, mix together the sugar and dark corn syrup, then add the nuts, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and salt. Then grab yourself a tea spoon!

Arrange the phyllo shells on a baking sheet (you can re-use the one you toasted the nuts on), and fill them with a heaping teaspoon of the pecan mixture. Be cautious as you work - the shells are very light, and some of them will be lopsided, and you'll want to use the pecans to even them out so they stand upright. You'll also want to make sure that you don't overfill with the liquid part of the mixture, as that will expand slightly as the pie bites are baked.

About 2 packages worth of shells can fit on a baking sheet, and each sheet will need to spend about 22 minutes in the oven to achieve maximum deliciousness. When they come out, place the pan on a wire rack (or your stove top burners, if they're raised) to cool.

We loved these so much that we're making them again for an office party tomorrow. For their ease of preparation and a production volume that's good for crowds, we hereby crown Crunchy Pecan Pie Bites a Yuppie Test Kitchen Favorite!

Have you tried these pie bites? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!