Ash Wednesday
Ash on your forehead and green in your pot
When Lent begins in Louisiana, as it does today, along with St. Valenine’s, there are special things to do.
You may pull into a “drive-thru Ash” kiosk where the local priest will anoint your forehead. If you come to my house, I’ll do the same.
Now is your time to cleanse and reflect, eh? To meditate on sacrifice.
But what to eat?
It is time to make the most beautiful vegetable potion of all, “Gumbo Z’Herbes.”
The essence is this: You clean and boil at least 7 bunches of different fresh greens in a stockpot with many peeled gloves of garlic. You add your veggies to a patiently cultivated roux, and the results are something other-worldly.
Gumbo Z’Herbes is all about greens, the bounty of them:
Kales, Mustard greens, romaine lettuce, the greens of carrot tops, (yes!) beet greens, turnip greens, collards, dandelion greens, cabbage, watercress, spinach, parsley, arugula, scallions. You name a garden green, and the answer is YES.
—Vary them, the texture and sharp vs. soft flavors. I’ve used up to 11. I think it’s lucky to have an odd number.
How To:
Choose 7-11 bunches of greens. Clean them extra well. Use a salad whisker or a colander, and rinse, rinse, rinse. A speck of sand or dirt would make a difference in this soup.
Find a a tall stock pot to pile them into, as it takes a lot of water to cover it all!
These greens might include things you would’ve chucked out otherwise. The photos I show here, the soup was made from the tough tops of leeks, the hard green tops of scallions, the greens from carrot tops, celery leaves, a bunch of kale, outer cabbage leaves, cauliflower leaves, parsley stems, cilantro stems, a bunch of lettuce, turnip greens.
Add the peeled cloves from a head of garlic, and a good amount of salt. If you didn’t add green leeks or scallions, add a cut and peeled onion to the pot too.
Bring to boil and simmer greens/garlic for 30 minutes.
While that’s going on, make a roux in a heavy Dutch oven. A roux is: flour melded with bacon fat/butter/oil. I used a little of all three. —Whatever is the tastiest fat you have in the house. I used about ⅔ cup flour and maybe 3 T of fat.
Once you’ve whisked your flour bit by bit into the fat, turn the flame all the way down, and let your roux change colors, get brown. You know the drill. This is going to taste good no matter what, but the darker the roux, the sweeter and deeper the flavor will be. You cannot stop burning, lest it burns. I mean, seriously, no bathroom break, nothing. You can hand over the spoon to someone else, but it must be continuous.
Give it at least a half hour, which is how long your greens are cooking anyway.
This is the point where you might also add the “holy trinity” to your roux: that’s diced carrots, celery, and sweet peppers. Sauté them in the roux for five minutes or so.
I didn’t have peppers or carrots this time the first time I made Gumbo Z’Herbes, so I threw in some Hatch chili flakes and leftover caramelized onions at the end. Don’t worry about the extras, it’s the browned fat and flour that are key.
DON’T BURN IT.
After a half hour of boiling the greens, turn the flame off.
Take a sieve or a big slotted spoon, and pull all the greens out of the broth.
Put the soggy greens, all of them, into a food processor and buzz them. You could practically do this with a fork, they’re so soft. It turns to a like ‘green jelly.’ The garlic is so soft if breaks down too. Perfect.
Slowly, cup by cup, whisk a quart or two of your stock into your dark roux in the Dutch oven. Whisk in the processed greens. Add a bunch of salt and pepper.
Many people add their favorite “Cajun spice mix” at this point. Well here’s the basics: cayenne pepper, paprika, salt, oregano, and black pepper. It’s to taste, don’t overdo it. Salt and pepper are the essentials.
Thin the roux as much as you like with the stock. I like mine to be as “thick” as tomato soup, not any more.
This is it! You could add cooked sausage, or shrimp. It was made as a dish for Lent, (vegetarian) and it is perfect that way— but do whatever you want. Leah Chase’s green gumbo in New Orleans has everything but an ostrich in it, and that would probably be great too.
A lot of people spoon it over rice, yum. I didn’t have rice last night, I just ate it by the bowlful! Now let me contemplate my sacrifices, eh?
I’m thinking some crusty sourdough bread would hit the spot with a large bowl of this gumbo.