Cappy's Cajun-Style Gluten Free Chicken Etouffee

   Etouffee is an old Cajun sauce made from cooking down lots of onions into a rich golden brown gravy.  It can be done with most any meat and lends itself well to seafood and chicken.  The done-in-a-hurry restaurant version is usually thickened with flour or cornstarch as a shortcut, and is not traditional.  Our version is slow-cooked like Cajun country folks have been doing for hundreds of years.  It is simple and naturally Gluten Free so it fits Peg's diet requirements, with no changes needed.  The Recipe:


         Cajun Style Chicken Etouffee


1 tablespoon of oil (or meat drippin's)
2 or 3 lbs of chicken thighs (they were on sale)
1 tablespoon of Cajun Seasoning
1 tablespoon Crystal hot sauce (most any hot sauce will do)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (Lea and Perrins is gluten free)
1/2 lb smoked sausage sliced
6-8 cups of coarse chopped onion
1 small can of mushroom stems and pieces, drained 
1/2 cup diced bell pepper
1/2 cup of green onion greens

   Season the chicken thighs with the Cajun seasoning, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce.  Place it in a hot saucepan with the oil in it.  Sear the chicken on both sides, let cook for about 10 minutes and remove the chicken from the pot.  Put the onions and sausage in the pot and let them 'cook down', stirring often, and deglazing if necessary, till the onions have reduced and turned a golden brown color and the oil has separated.
    Replace the chicken to the pot, add enough water to cover it, stir and let simmer for an hour.  Uncover and skim any free oil from the surface of the etouffee, then add the bell pepper and green onion greens.
     Let simmer for another half hour and serve over cooked white rice.  This delicious dish is a Cajun country staple, and this is how they did it the "ole-fashioned' way.   

Now that ya know what it looks like, here is a Youtube video we made for yall to show how you, too can make this "slap yo mama good" Cajun wheat and gluten free dish.  Give this a try, and as always, we invite all comments, questions and criticisms.