Seafood Gumbo

Posted byNoriePosted inRecipe, Seafood, SoupTags:

 Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. fresh shrimp (small) shelled or 1 lb. crawfish tails (packaged) or shelled leftover crawfish from your crawfish boil
  • ½ pint (1 cup) crab claws or crabmeat
  • 2 TBS oil
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 medium onion diced
  • 4 stalks celery diced (you can include some leaves)
  • 1 bell pepper diced
  • 2 Roma tomatoes or 1 large tomato diced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 Shrimp bouillon cube
  • 1 Chicken bouillon cube
  • 2 TBS Kitchen Bouquet
  • 1 TBS Worcestershire Sauce
  • 2 TBS (or more) Gumbo Filé
  • 1 package frozen sliced okra
  • 6 to 8 cups water
  • Tabasco Sauce
  • Salt and Black Pepper, White Pepper

Rue (Roux):

  • 1 cup flour 
  • ½ cup oil

Actually I don’t measure anything but the above measurements are only a guide for 4 to 6 servings.  Use more or less of any ingredient and also according to how much you are making.  The pictured gumbo in the cooking process is a very large batch for a large company. 

Procedure:

Heat 2 TBS cooking oil in a skillet and sauté the garlic and the onion until the onion are transparent.  Add the celery, green bell pepper and tomatoes. Sauté for a couple of minutes then transfer to a suitable sized cooking pot.  Add the water then add the bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce, shrimp bouillon and chicken bouillon.  Heat to boiling and simmer while you make the rue.

To make the roux:

In a heavy skillet, preferably cast iron, heat the ½ cup oil.  When hot enough add the flour on the bottom side nearest you.  Keep the heat at medium-high.  Lower the heat if the flour burns too quickly.  Spread the flour towards the middle a little at a time, stirring and pressing to avoid lumps until the flour is all uniformly moist with oil.  The mixture will seem to be dry in a big lump but continue stirring and pressing.  Do this until the flour is almost burnt and very dark like the color of ground coffee and will look oily as the oil starts to come out.  Making the rue is like making gravy except you cook the flour until very dark.

This procedure takes a while.  It will be hot and smoky so, if you have an outside stove, do it there or turn on the vent on max. 

Carefully transfer the mixture into the simmering pot of what you made earlier. Simmer for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Drop in the seafood meats then add the Kitchen Bouquet and Gumbo Filé.  Add some Tabasco to your taste.  Lastly, drop in the okra.  Let boil then simmer for a few minutes until all seafood are cooked and the okra are soft (a couple minutes).  Taste and adjust the salt, add black pepper and white pepper (optional).

Eat it with cooked white rice in a bowl. 

Note:  I reserved the shrimp shells and made the broth from them. It could eliminate the shrimp bouillon cube.