Alligator Sauce Piquant

Ingredients:

2 - 3 lbs. alligator meat, OR
(turtle meat or rabbit or frog legs or pork or squirrel or raccoon or any good game meat -- or shrimp or chicken will work nicely as well)
3 onions
3 bell peppers
5 ribs celery
3 - 5 cloves garlic (or one head Creole hot garlic)
2 fresh mild green chilies (Anaheim or New Mexico)
1 - 2 jalapeno or Serrano or habanera chilies (optional)
Oil for sautéing
3 tablespoons oil (for the roux)
3 tablespoons flour (for the roux)
1 can crushed tomatoes and 2 cans Ro-tel tomatoes (if unavailable, use regular stewed tomatoes and add more hot chilies)
1 small can tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
1 to 1 1/2 cups stock or broth
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, OR
1-1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary leaves
1-1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, OR
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
Salt to taste


Cooking Directions:

If you have alligator or turtle (or whatever) bones, boil them with a quartered carrot, quartered onion, celery with tops and some peppercorns to make a stock. Skim off fat if any and reserve 1 to 1-1/2 cups. Or, you can use a prepared or canned beef or chicken broth, but whatever you do, don't just use plain water.
Dice or cube the meat, then sauté in a little oil until browned.

Chop and sauté one of the onions and one of the bell peppers, and sauté until tender. Pure these in a blender and set aside.

Sauté the remaining onion and bell pepper with the chilies, celery and garlic.

Make a medium, peanut-butter colored roux with the oil and flour, adding a little more oil or flour until you have the right consistency. Add the roux to the sautéed vegetables to stop the cooking process, and stir well. Make sure the roux does not stick to the bottom of the pot.

Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, wine and Worcestershire to the sautéed vegetables. Add the onion/bell pepper pure and stir. Season with the Creole seasoning and salt to taste. Cook on medium heat for 10 minutes, making sure it doesn't stick.

Add the meat, rosemary and thyme and cook for 30 minutes on low heat, stirring frequently to avoid sticking. If you're using shrimp or seafood, cook for 20 minutes, then add shrimp for the last 10 minutes and cook.

Serve over rice.

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