Are the rules you learned in childhood about food holding you back in your adult life? You probably know by now that my favorite question is why. Here are two rules that I was taught: Don’t eat anything from a can and never make boxed mac n cheese because “there’s junk in it.” Well, that may have been true in the old days, but if you read labels on packaged food, it’s possible to find some that are made with quality ingredients.
So, I made my first macaroni and cheese from a box. Well, they were small shells actually, but basically the same thing, right? I won’t lie to you and say it’s as good as homemade because there’s nothing like smothering pasta in your own concoction of rich, creamy cheese sauce and baking it until it’s nice and crusty on top. But at the end of a long day, this hit the spot with zero effort. And who’s to say you can’t still tweak it a tiny bit to make it a little more special? A pinch of spice? Some onion and garlic? How about some crab claws from a can? From a can?! Yes, I do open one on occasion and what a brilliant addition to this quick pantry meal.
So, I guess you can say I’ve joined the club. Club Connie, that is. What? You don’t get my little joke? That must be because you haven’t read my amusing story published in the new book: Chicken Soup for the Soul: Well THAT Was Funny. The stories contributed by the other authors will have you in tears of laughter as well. Laughter is good for the soul!
After making a pot of white bean soup with ham, I offered to share some with a friend whose husband had been sick. Completely unprepared for the rave reviews that followed and questions about how to make it, I realized they haven’t been reading my blog. LOL.
When I told her I didn’t follow a recipe, she asked how I could ever make it exactly the same way again. Is that necessary? I’m sure I don’t often make anything exactly the same way twice. And unless I was running a restaurant where the same dish was expected to be served to the masses on daily repeat, I can’t imagine why I would want to.
As I began to explain my concept of intuitive cooking, she told me she wasn’t any good at that. I maintain that it can be learned. What you need to learn are concepts and principles, not exact measurements and ingredients. For example, a good soup starts with a good base. While you can always open a carton of stock, why not save money and make your own flavorful stock? Any time you’re cooking, and you trim the ends of vegetables that don’t make it into your finished dish, don’t throw them away. Put them into a sealable bag in the freezer. Same goes for bones/carcass. Unless you have time to immediately make stock with them, put them into the freezer for later as well. When the freezer bag is full of veggie scraps and maybe a couple of bones, you have free stock waiting to happen!
How to Make White Bean Soup from Scratch
Having soaked the white beans overnight and thawed the ham in the refrigerator that I had bought on clearance and frozen some time ago, I was in go-position for a delicious and satisfying white bean soup with ham. Dumping my freezer bag full of scraps into a stock pot and filling it with water, I put it on to boil. A couple of parmesan rinds lurking in the freezer joined the party. Whenever I’m making stock, my husband likes to peek into the kitchen and ask, “What are you cooking? Our laundry?” That always cracks me up. Yes, it looks like a big mess, but you’re going to strain it in the end, and it will taste amazing.
Meanwhile, put the softened white beans into another big pot with water and boil for 30 minutes. Drain and reserve. Chop an onion and mince some garlic. Chop some celery and the ham. How much? Depends on what you have going on in your stock pot. I knew that the lamb bones I was simmering along with onion ends, celery ends, carrot ends, snow pea ends, zucchini ends, lettuce ends, chard stems etc. would yield a very flavorful stock. So, for a pound of beans, I used:
7 ounces of ham, diced
half an onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
3 stalks of celery, chopped
dried sage
dried thyme
Heat some olive oil in a big pot and start cooking your onion. Let it start to get a little golden before adding the garlic, then the celery and ham. After cooking for a couple of minutes, pour some of the stock you’ve started through a strainer into the soup pot. Add the beans and be sure you have enough liquid to get them simmering without burning. You can continue to cook the stock and strain into the soup as time goes on. Cook the beans for another hour or so and then puree a cup or so of them to add some body to the soup. Test the beans and simmer until they are tender enough for your liking, perhaps 2 hours of total cooking time is a ballpark figure. Season with salt to taste.
In this case, I minced some additional garlic and parsley and stirred into the soup before serving. It adds an unexpected vibrant finish. How will you make a delicious white bean soup?
In case you hadn’t realized, beans are nutritious and full of fiber, while being easy on the pocketbook in these times of skyrocketing food prices. Experiment with pinto beans and others to enjoy a variety of flavorful, family-friendly meals.
Get inspired to cook a delicious and nutritious fish dinner that the whole family will love.
So, you’ve started shopping without a list, buying what looks fresh and on sale. You’re trying to eat healthier and have decided more fish is a good idea. Bravo! You don’t need a recipe. What you need is an idea to get dinner on the table without a lot of fuss. What goes with fish? Try making a quick caponata. A combination of vegetables with a tangy kick and a briny element is perfect for an oily, wild fish such as mackerel.
When shopping at the local Asian market for some pantry staples that I was in need of, I picked up some frozen mackerel fillets, fresh Japanese eggplant and tomatoes. Once I had defrosted the fish, I decided that something sweet, tangy and salty would complement it, so I got to work chopping the eggplant and tomatoes to prepare them to go into a big, lidded pot that would have room enough for the fish to poach on top of the vegetables. Yes, my friends! Everything in one pot is the easiest and I love doing fish this way. Quick, easy and delicious is the way to go.
If you need a more precise recipe for a caponata, you can try this one from the NY Times. However, if you are learning to cook without a recipe and develop your intuition in the kitchen, please focus on the basic concepts instead. See what ingredients you have available; decide on the direction of flavor you want to pursue and a cooking method. Then have some fun. For this dinner, here’s how I answered the question of what goes with fish:
Japanese eggplant, chopped
tomatoes, chopped
garlic, minced
olive oil
capers (for the briny element)
salt
white balsamic vinegar (for the tangy kick)
Any eggplant would do for this simple caponata. I tend to prefer the slender Japanese variety because they have fewer seeds and are sweeter. Therefore, I don’t feel the need to salt them and drain prior to cooking. If you wanted to go to a tiny bit more trouble, you could roast the eggplant before adding to the pot with your other ingredients. It will give you more depth of flavor that way. But in the heat of summer, I preferred not to turn on the oven and getting the eggplant started on the stovetop with some olive oil and garlic worked out just fine. The time it takes for them to cook will depend on how small you’ve chopped them, of course.
After about ten or fifteen minutes, I decided it was time to add a splash of vinegar and salt to taste. Tossed in the chopped tomatoes and a teaspoon of capers before reducing the heat to its lowest setting so that I could lay the salted mackerel fillets on top and cover. Cook just until the fish flakes in the middle with a fork. This took about 12 minutes in this case. The variety of fish and its thickness will determine how long you should cook it. Just be sure to test it sooner rather than later. You can always cook it longer, but no one likes dry, overcooked fish. And these babies were anything but that, BTW!
What kind of fish can you find locally that’s economical? This would have also been great with salmon or seabass. What other ingredients do you think would go with this fish dinner? How about artichokes instead of eggplant? What about olives instead of capers? Maybe you would prefer to start this dish with onions? Can you combine all of those items? Why not?! Make sure to taste as you go and adjust accordingly. Does it need a touch of sugar? More acid or salt? Let us know in the comments how you make it your own and answer the question, “What goes with fish?”
The possibilities are endless when it comes to fish. Try this idea beginning with a savory roux and poaching with celery and bell peppers. And please share via your favorite social media if you are finding these tips useful.
If it’s good enough for a centenarian, this 3-ingredient cold beet soup is good enough for me!
What’s your favorite simple meal on a hot day? Cold beet soup is refreshing and couldn’t be easier to prepare. Michael’s parents love borscht, so I called to ask my mother-in-law how she makes hers. Chuckling, she answered, “I don’t make it. I buy it in a jar.” While I have no problem with that idea, I had some fresh beets that I wanted to use, so I decided to search for recipes online.
Guess what? I had no idea how many different versions existed ranging from the simple cold beet soup I had envisioned to a hearty winter stew comprised of multiple ingredients. Because it’s known as an Eastern European dish, I decided to ask a friend whose mother was originally from Czechoslovakia, (an area that would now be considered part of Ukraine), if she made borscht. Her reply reiterated what I had already discovered, “Borscht means different things to different people.” Thankfully the way her mother makes it consisted of only 3 ingredients and was always served cold in the summer. Bingo! That’s the cold beet soup I was looking for.
How to Make Cold Beet Soup
It’s really no trouble preparing beets. Just remember to put on a dark apron to protect your clothes from any splatter. After cutting off the greens and reserving for another meal, scrub the beets with a stiff bristled brush under running water. I generally don’t find it necessary to peel them, but I cut away any particularly rough bits where the root meets the stem and scrape off any hairlike roots with a paring knife. After chopping them into quarters or smaller, put them into a saucepan with enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil and simmer until fork tender. Chill beets along with their cooking water. Once cold, grate or chop strained beets in the food processor.
To serve, put some plain yogurt into a bowl. Then stir in the beets and reserved cooking water. Top with sauerkraut. I was told that in the olden days, they added lemon juice instead. The sauerkraut is a new twist that Miriam substitutes, and I think it’s great this way.
Ingredients for Cold Beet Soup:
boiled beets in their cooking water
plain yogurt or sour cream
sauerkraut or lemon juice
If you’re into dietary supplements, you know that beet powder has been heavily advertised in recent years. There is no question that beets are good for you. While I have no issue with supplements per se, I dislike the idea of superfood fads and marketing the idea of taking a supplement rather than eating what’s found in nature. If longevity is what you’re after, take a cue from the Blue Zones. Eat a balanced diet with a variety of fresh vegetables, fermented foods and exercise regularly. Miriam, who makes this cold beet soup is nearly 100 years old. She makes her own sauerkraut for this dish. I confess that mine was store-bought, but I do believe that beets and some probiotics can’t hurt!
How might you tweak this recipe for your family’s taste? My husband didn’t like the sound of borscht when I wanted to serve him some, but he was just fine when I put it into his morning Nutribullet along with some lettuce, a few radishes and a couple mandarin oranges. So, adapt and find what works best for you and your family.
What’s at your local farmers market that will inspire your chilled vegetable soup this season?
Who feels like cooking on a hot, summer day? Not me! A simple chilled vegetable soup is an easy, make-ahead solution. There are endless possibilities based on the fresh produce available to you. A staple in our household is gazpacho, of which there are many variations. I haven’t yet traveled to Spain to taste the most authentic pureed version. However, our family enjoys its own creation consisting of many diced vegetables. Feel free to make it your own and improvise according to your taste but be sure to prepare it ahead of time so that it has sufficient time to chill. This is one of those dishes that definitely tastes best the next day. Pat yourself on the back for eating your vegetables while enjoying a different texture than a salad.
Ingredients for Chilled Vegetable Soup:
64-ounce bottle of V8 juice
½ green bell pepper, diced
3 green onions, chopped
2 Tablespoons chopped parsley
1 cup fresh diced tomatoes
3 ribs of celery, diced
2 Persian cucumbers, diced
4 radishes, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt to taste, (less than a teaspoon)
Directions:
Into a big pitcher that can be covered and refrigerated, put each of the finely chopped vegetables. Season with garlic, salt, cumin, olive oil, vinegar, hot sauce and Worcestershire as you build the layers so that the flavors begin to marry. Toss to combine and pour in V8 juice. Stir, chill for at least a few hours, and serve.
Serving Gazpacho
Preparing this chilled vegetable soup ahead of time means that it’s perfect for a picnic. It makes a delightful first course or an accompaniment to a sandwich or lox and bagels. How about making it a complete meal by adding some bay shrimp and avocado for protein and texture? How will you add your own unique twist? Let us know in the comments below and share how you have been developing your intuition in the kitchen.
Looking for more refreshing ideas this summer? Try Cold Soba for your next picnic.
No stockpot? No problem. You can make pasta in a skillet.
Who agrees that making pasta is just about the easiest thing ever? It can be the quickest and most satisfying meal as long as you don’t labor over a slow cooking sauce. That makes it perfect for preparing on vacation…. except when your airbnb rental doesn’t have a proper pot for boiling pasta water!
Listen up, hosts of short-term rentals. A big stock pot is one of the most necessary items to provide in a kitchen where guests are expected to prepare their own meals. Upon arrival to any new destination where I’ll be spending more than a night or two, I am bound to pick up a few basic essentials. For me that includes grapeseed oil, garlic, pasta, eggs and a fresh vegetable or two. My most recent Airbnb experience required some ingenuity as there was very little in the way of kitchen equipment. So, lacking a big pot, I learned to make skillet pasta. You know I’m always up for a challenge to try doing something in a new way!
How I Made Skillet Pasta With Rapini
First, I boiled water in the small saucepan that I had. Breaking the dry spaghetti in half so that it would fit in a skillet, I placed it in the bottom of an empty one. In the other skillet, I blanched some cut rapini or broccoli rabe. After draining, I sauteed it in grapeseed oil with chopped garlic. Once the water in the saucepan boiled, I poured it into the skillet with the spaghetti and turned the burner on to simmer. This took longer than boiling in a big pot, but it worked out just fine.
Not knowing how this process would work exactly, I kept some water boiling on the back burner while I simmered the pasta so that I could add more water as needed. My idea was to have very little water remaining by the time the pasta was al dente and then to toss it with the rapini. Then I realized I needed a protein, so I whisked a couple of eggs together…using a fork, of course. You didn’t think a kitchen without a stockpot had a whisk, did you?! LOL.
Once the pasta was done, I spooned some of the hot water into the raw egg mixture while whisking. I wanted to temper the eggs so that they would gently cook without becoming scrambled. Tossing the tempered eggs with the cooked pasta and rapini finished their cooking process and yielded a richness to this simple meal of skillet pasta with rapini. Yum. My husband said, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we had some crusty garlic bread?” LOL. I reminded him it was like camping in this bad Airbnb that didn’t even have a coffee maker and I had done quite enough, thank you. Bless his heart. He got the message. He picked up some delicious Korean take-out the next night.
Is the idea of cooking eggs this way with pasta new to you? Try My Awesome Carbonara next.
Cooking inspiration is everywhere! Try a simple marinade to make the best chicken kabobs.
How often I hear, “Karyn, your pictures look so good. You’re making me hungry!” Thank you, friends! My early pictures weren’t so good. I am glad to know I’m improving. BUT, have I inspired you to cook? That is my intent and I would love to know what you’ve been doing in the kitchen.
Yesterday I was asked about making kabobs. Immediately I shouted, “shawarma spices!” The question was really about cooking them, however. Simply put, I prefer to have meat and vegetables on separate skewers because they may need different cooking times, especially if you’re doing chicken kabobs. The exception is onion. I always enjoy onion alternating with chicken on a skewer…which leads me to the purpose of this post. Chicken and onion and shawarma spices with yogurt!
I’m salivating at the idea now. Do ideas about food ever keep you up at night? Recently I tried a recipe for a roasted chicken from Bon Appetit magazine. A recipe??? Yes, once in a while I do follow one…sort of. If something sounds particularly appealing, I will experiment with the general idea. Just don’t expect me to go line by line exactly.
So, you know I love a roasted chicken. It’s just about the easiest thing ever. According to this recipe, you marinate it in yogurt and shawarma spices. Cook it with onions, garlic and lemon slices. We enjoyed it, but now that I’m thinking about chicken kabobs, this could be the bomb! They say the yogurt is good for tenderizing and it was good for a little char. Mix it with shawarma spices and you have a winning combination.
With a couple tablespoons or so of shawarma spices, whisk in 4 cloves of crushed garlic, 1/4 cup of yogurt, and 2 Tablespoons of oil. Coat chicken in this mixture and season with salt. Let sit for 30 minutes before cooking or chill for up to 12 hours. Let chicken come to room temperature before cooking.
Ready to fire up the grill? What will you serve with your kabobs? Rice? Parsley salad? Hummus and flatbread? Yes, please! But honestly, this chicken and veggies are a meal on their own!
Celebrate spring with shrimp asparagus risotto. It’s an easy main dish with so many possibilities.
Spring is here and asparagus is on sale. Eat with the seasons by combining asparagus with shrimp and arborio rice for a no fuss, one dish meal of risotto. Arborio rice releases its starch slowly while simmering with a little liquid added at regular intervals. The result is creamy and delicious. Look for it at an Italian market if your local chain doesn’t carry it. You will need two pots: one on the back burner for simmering a flavorful stock and a smaller one for cooking the risotto.
What will you use for stock? Packaged vegetable or chicken stock would be fine, but here at Karyn’s Kitchen, we waste nothing while looking for more flavor opportunities. So, if you’re using shrimp, put the shells into a pot of water to boil along with any veggie scraps you’ve been saving in the freezer. You will want to have about 4 times as much stock as dry rice to begin. You can always save any remaining stock for later. I always begin risotto with onion, so the ends of the onion go into the boiling water along with the tough, woody ends that I’ve snapped off the asparagus. I decided to add more seafood flavor by putting dried bonito flakes in my stock pot as well. Buy them at a Japanese market and keep in your pantry to make delicious seafood stock anytime.
Preparing the Risotto
Once you’ve got your stock simmering, sauté a chopped onion in some olive oil and butter. Once translucent, add the arborio rice. For two people, I tossed in a few handfuls. (This is one dish that I don’t recommend making more than you intend to eat for one meal because leftovers don’t retain the original texture.) Stir the rice to coat with fat and cook on medium/low heat for a couple of minutes before adding a splash of white wine. Once that has cooked down, add a ladle full of stock, stir and lower heat to simmer. (Because I had all kinds of loose bits floating in my stock, I ladled it through a small strainer. Unnecessary if your stock has already been clarified.)
The remainder of the cooking process is just to repeat, repeat, repeat adding a ladle full of stock, stirring and waiting for it to cook down. Add more stock each time before the mixture has completely dried. When it looks nearly done, taste a kernel and see if it’s tender. Ultimately, you want a toothsome center with a soft exterior. Don’t let it turn into mush. Once it’s just about al dente, which I find takes at least 30 minutes, add the shrimp and chopped asparagus. Both items take just a couple of minutes to cook. Shrimp should turn pink and opaque. Asparagus should turn bright green and remain crisp tender. That’s the way I like it anyway.
Flavoring Shrimp Asparagus Risotto
While your risotto is simmering away, you can explore your spice cabinet and see what flavors will complement what you have going. I chose a pinch of saffron and turmeric. A teaspoon of dried mint and a touch of fresh basil rounded things out. Eyeing a lemon, I decided to finish the dish by stirring in its juice at the end of cooking. You could add the zest of the lemon if you wanted to further brighten it up. Salt to taste.
So, there you have it. If you’re looking for an exact recipe with measurements to follow, you’re in the wrong place. Instead, think about proportions and flavor combinations using available ingredients in order to create a delicious, balanced meal you and your family will love. Start with an anchor ingredient. In this case, it was the fresh asparagus. Find a protein and a grain and have some fun experimenting in the kitchen. I didn’t mind stirring risotto on this occasion, but you could just as well prepare something similar by steaming another item from the pantry such as barley or farro. The choice is yours!
Ingredients For Stock:
water
shrimp shells
bonito flakes:
asparagus ends
onion and miscellaneous vegetable ends
Ingredients for Risotto:
arborio rice
onion
butter
olive oil
dry white wine
asparagus
shrimp
saffron
turmeric
dried mint
fresh basil
lemon juice
salt
What’s your favorite way to prepare asparagus? Try it with a lightened-up version of Beef Stroganoff.
Whether you’re a guest or a host, here’s some basic equipment needed to survive a short-term rental. It doesn’t have to be a bad Airbnb experience.
Have you ever arrived at a short-term rental only to find that it is not equipped as described?
When a listing states that there is a kitchen for guests to cook their own meals, it implies that certain basic equipment is available for that purpose. Most hotel rooms have at least a coffee maker, so most of us would expect one at our Airbnb or Vrbo rental. Therefore, ground coffee and half and half are among the first things I purchase upon arrival. I have friends who travel with a coffee maker just in case. Having had mostly good experiences personally with short term rentals, I have relaxed a bit over the years. Sadly, I was disappointed on my last trip. The first morning at this bad Airbnb, I boiled coffee cowboy style. The results were less than stellar, so the first thing I did the next morning was take a trip to the Dollar Tree to purchase some necessary items.
Seriously, folks! If you are the host of a short-term rental with a kitchen, you need a knife and surface on which to chop, a can opener, a corkscrew, a way to make coffee and an oven safe dish. I would appreciate a big pot in which to boil pasta as well but couldn’t find one at the Dollar Tree. So, I learned to cook it in a skillet instead. A kitchen doesn’t have to be large, but it should be functional.
Coffee Without a Coffee Maker
I looked around for a basic pour over device while on my trip, but never found one. Perhaps I will travel with one going forward after this experience. Instead, I managed with this small strainer and coffee filters.
Use up leftover turkey or chicken by making a delicious gumbo ya ya that will transport your taste buds to New Orleans.
Wondering what to do with leftover turkey or chicken? Pick off the remaining meat and boil the carcass for a flavorful stock to use as a base for gumbo ya ya. Grab a smoked sausage like andouille or kielbasa, a few vegetables and spices and you’re ready to go. Adapt according to ingredients you have on hand and start cooking a delicious gumbo ya ya without a recipe.
I had part of a roasted chicken left over, so I first picked off all the meat that I could and put that back in the refrigerator. Then I boiled the bones and carcass in water to make the stock for the gumbo. Zero waste cooking meant I ended up with about a quart of stock, which was just about right for the amount of roux that I made next.
Roux
When I first started making roux, which forms the base of the gumbo ya ya, I followed the slow method. I would combine equal parts of oil and flour and slowly stir with a wooden spoon over low heat until it reached the desired color of brown. While it’s easier to avoid burning it this way, it also requires continuously standing at the stove, stirring slowly for 45 minutes. A little tedious, which meant I didn’t want to do it very often.
Eventually, I learned from one of Paul Prudhomme’s cookbooks to do it faster. I did burn it once in the early days though, so although it’s my preferred method now, do proceed with caution. It’s no fun to have to throw it out and start over. Especially if you are making a fast roux, I recommend using a pot with rounded sides like this one, if you have it. Less opportunity for bits to turn black in the inside crease around the edge of a flat sided pot.
Before you begin making the roux, make sure you have already chopped your onion, bell pepper and celery because you will need to add them to the pot to stop your roux from burning. Timing is crucial. (The amount of onion I used equaled about the same amount of bell pepper and celery combined. Here that meant one onion, half a bell pepper and two small stalks of celery.
In this case, I didn’t have much grapeseed oil left, so I measured that first to see how much roux I could make. You want an oil with a high smoke point. Olive oil will not do for this. I found that I had a little less than half a cup of oil, so I measured about the same amount of flour and put them both into my pot over high heat and whisked quickly for a few minutes until it turned dark brown like chocolate.
Then I immediately took it off the heat and added the chopped vegetables, continuing to whisk everything together. Returning the pot to medium heat, I cooked it for a few minutes before adding the chicken stock. Be careful here. Pour the stock slowly and away from you. It’s nice if it has had a chance to cool slightly also. You don’t want to burn yourself splashing hot oil and stock around.
Now you want to get this to a simmer and you can relax while you chop your sausage, if you haven’t already done so. You can add it to the pot before or after adding the stock. Then you can go get your spices to season the gumbo.
At Jazzfest in New Orleans, the best gumbo could be had at the fairgrounds
Spices For Gumbo Ya Ya:
1 or 2 bay leaves
cayenne (as much as your palate allows…I think I used about 1/2 teaspoon)
paprika
smoked paprika
French thyme
pinch of basil
pinch of oregano
a couple of cloves of garlic, minced
file’ powder (add at the end of cooking)
Once you have added all your ingredients, except the cooked chicken, you should let the gumbo simmer for a couple of hours. I needed to go out, so I put it into a slow cooker and let it cook on high for 4 hours. Half an hour before serving, I tasted and decided how much salt it needed and added the cooked chicken. Use all your senses to start cooking more intuitively.
Just before serving, stir in some gumbo file’ powder. I used about half a teaspoon. I forgot to add it once and it wasn’t the end of the world. So if you don’t have any, try it without. It does add a certain special something though.
This yielded 4 very generous main course servings. By the way, this is one of those things that tastes even better the next day. Make a great big batch and put some in the freezer for later. It’s a fantastic treat to give yourself a day off of cooking by planning ahead.
Serve with rice. White is traditional, but I usually use brown for everything. Pictured above, I used some brown rice that was left over from another meal.
Basic Ingredients In Addition to Spices:
oil
flour
chicken or turkey meat
chicken or turkey stock
andouille sausage
onion
bell pepper
celery
Understanding basic proportions means you can cook intuitively without a recipe. In this case, using my available ingredients, I combined a half a cup each of flour and oil to make roux for a quart of stock. Obviously, a cup each of flour and oil would be enough for 2 quarts of stock for the consistency I enjoy in gumbo ya ya. More roux would yield a thicker gumbo. Less roux for a thinner one.
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