Meatless Monday - Faux Gumbo

I'm posting this one for Meatless Monday, but I actually made it over the weekend because, in the kid's words,  'Let's just go ahead and get it out of the way'. The 10-year old loves her meat, and is forever sad when faced with veggies and couscous and farro and casseroles.

I've been making this non-gumbo for years, and the only reason I call it gumbo is because there are some of the same ingredients (file powder, okra, corn, tomatoes). It doesn't use a traditional roux because I'm not allowed to make roux anymore; the first time I made it I made the unbelievably stupid mistake of sticking my finger in it to taste it, scorched my finger horribly, then stuck my on-fire finger in MY MOUTH to cool it off, searing my tongue and lips in the process. Plus I'm not really sure I actually even like real gumbo.

I do like okra, and I love fresh corn, and I ADORE rice almost as much as I love salt, so this is a no-brainer. I found something in my pantry labeled 'Cajun' spice, which I think is a new addition since the last time I made it 10+ years go, so I used that for seasoning.

I also used half chicken broth, and half shrimp broth, to add a little authenticity. I love weird bouillons. Normally I stick strictly to 'Better than Bouillon' because it's freaking awesome, but I've also got cube-style Shrimp, Mushroom (great in everything Italian), Pork, Cilantro, and another one that I can't think of right now.

The recipe is SUPER easy- chop stuff up, saute, boil, serve.
I go back and forth between adding the tomatoes with the other stuff before cooking, and adding them at the end. I feel like you shouldn't cook field-fresh tomatoes, but they also tend to be a little distracting if they're cold, and they don't pick up/add to the flavor. I also need to revise the recipe because that's way too much corn, it's overpowering. And I'm not crazy about celery, so in reality I only use two ribs. For the seasonings I used probably 1 tsp of the Cajun, and 1/2 tsp of the File. The File I had to buy online; I've never seen it in a store. I think maybe next time I'm going to try adding a little Old Bay also, that seems to be my spice of choice this summer.

Can you SMELL this?! Can you believe that the kid took one look, and politely said, "No thank you, I'd rather go to bed without dinner". Sigh, children.

I'm kind of happy I wrote this post, because I never really knew what file powder was; hey, it's dried sassafras, who knew?! If interested, here's some info on The Great Gumbo Debate - https://www.southernfoodways.org/interview/a-short-history-of-gumbo/.