Wild "Faux" Gumbo

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 cups chopped onion
• 2 cups chopped Burdock flower stalks (Arctium minus) (you can substitute celery or carrots) (we used previously peeled diced, blanched and frozen Burdock flower stalks on the show)
• 2 cups chopped green and/or red pepper
• 1 cup sliced wild leek (Allium tricoccum also known as ramps), white parts and green tops (you can substitute scallions if not available)
• 6 cups chicken broth (you can substitute vegetable or seaweed broth)
• 6 cups water
• 4 cups any combination of mucilaginous wild greens such as Pokeweed shoots (Phytolacca americana) Milkweed buds (Asclepias syriaca), Ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), fiddleheads, Mallow seed pods, or "cheeses" (Malva neglecta) (we used previously blanched and frozen pokeweed shoots and fresh mallow cheeses on the show)
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 teaspoons oregano or wild equivalent (we used creeping thyme (Thymus pulegioides) on the show)
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper or wild equivalent (we used dried and ground Spicebush berries (Lindera benzoin) on the show)
• 6 cups seafood-like or meat-like mushrooms*
• 1 cup snipped parsley
• 2 tablespoons gumbo filè powder (you can make this yourself from dried foraged young Sassafras leaves (Sassafras albidum) available mid-spring to early summer)

Instructions

1. 1
   In a heavy Dutch oven or any large, thick-bottomed cooking pot combine flour and oil until smooth. Cook over medium high heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir about 20 minutes more, or until mixture is reddish brown (the color of a penny).
2. 2
   Add onion, Burdock, green pepper and wild leeks; cook and stir for 5 minutes. If you are using previously blanched and frozen greens, wait to add them with the mushrooms and parsley in the next step.
3. 3
   Add chicken broth, water, greens, paprika, salt, oregano and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer covered for 10 minutes.
4. 4
   Add mushrooms and parsley. Simmer uncovered about 5 minutes more or until mushrooms are done. Remove from heat.
5. 5
   Stir in filè powder.