Refrigerator gumbo

Been trying to cook more at home, especially as the weather's getting cooler and it's more tolerable to spend longer stretches in the kitchen.

This weekend, we needed to get some leftovers out of the fridge. Main thing we had was a honking amount of leftover cold roast chicken from a midweek supper. There were also a couple of cups of cooked brown rice... oh, wait, there's a bag of frozen okra in the freezer...

REFRIGERATOR GUMBO

10-12 generous servings

Ingredients:

Leftover cold roast chicken, skin removed, deboned, defatted and diced coarsely
Leftover brown rice
Bag frozen okra
Four UHT boxes, Pomi crushed tomatoes
Chicken or vegetable stock for thinning (to achieve proper consistency)
4-6 cups trinity (chopped onion, green pepper, and celery in roughly equal proportions)
fat to make a roux (butter or veg. oil/shortening acceptable; some bacon drippings in the mix if at all possible)
flour
salt
pepper
bay leaf
thyme
(if you're being "authentic") file' gumbo

Instructions:

Over low heat, in a heavy stockpot, make a roux with a 4:3 ratio (my preference) of melted fat to flour.

Add chopped trinity and saute until onion becomes translucent.

Add chicken, frozen okra, chopped tomatoes, cooked rice, and spices to taste. Bring to boil, then sharply reduce heat; simmer over low heat for ~ 1hr. Thin as necessary with chicken or vegetable stock.

Yield: one hearty fall dinner for two people; four packaged quarts (each an almost perfect serving for two) of leftovers to freeze (and thaw for weeknight dinners.)