While growing up in Louisiana, I developed a love for gumbo, and I discovered that making a pot is the best way to use up leftover Thanksgiving turkey. Tom Fitzmorris has an excellent recipe here, but I’m going to share my modified version.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1/2 cup Instant Roux
• 2 bags frozen onions, peppers, and celery (mirepoix or seasoning blend)*
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 2 cloves of garlic
• One or two cooked turkey carcasses, with all available scraps**
• 3 quarts water
• 1 Tbs. salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. Tabasco
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 bag frozen okra
• 1 lb. andouille or smoked sausage, cooked
• 2-3 cups cooked rice

* Or 1 large onion, 1 red bell pepper, 2 ribs celery, chopped
** If you don’t have much meat left, you can buy turkey wings for relative cheap, and they work well for making the stock and adding a bit of extra meat!

Directions:
1. Whisk together instant roux and water, set aside.

2. Add the onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic and parsley to oil and sauté them until the onions are clear and have begun to brown a little.

3. Slowly stir in roux.

4. Add the turkey bones and meat to the pot, along with the water, salt, pepper, Tabasco, bay leaves, and thyme. Bring to a simmer and cook for about an hour.

5. Skim fat from the top of the gumbo pot. Remove the turkey bones, but strip off all the meat and return it to the pot.

6. Slice the sausage into one-inch-thick discs. Add the okra and sausage to the gumbo pot.

7. Lower to a simmer and cook the gumbo for one to two hours. Stir and skim fat every now and then. You can add water or stock if it’s starting to thicken too much, and taste to make sure you’re happy with the seasoning.

8. Server over rice and enjoy!

The gumbo only gets better in the refrigerator overnight, and it freezes really well!