Seafood Gumbo

[abjcooking]

This recipe is from Paula Dean. I decided to give it a shot this weekend and it was delicious. You can use whatever seafood you want.

http://img399.imageshack.us/my.php?image=seafoodgumbo0064ey.jpg

1/4 cup oil
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups onion, chopped
1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup celery, diced
3 large garlic cloves, minced
4 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon chicken base
3 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/3 cup dried parsley
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons House Seasoning, recipe follows
2 tablespoons soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes seasoned with garlic, basil, and oregano or 2 cups fresh diced tomatoes
4 cups sliced Cajun-style fresh link sausage
4 cups cut okra (fresh or frozen)
2 cups oysters and liquor
1/2 pound crabmeat
1 1/2 pounds fresh peeled shrimp
3 cups bay scallops
File powder

In a large pot combine oil and flour. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until the roux has browned to a light chocolate color. Add onion, pepper, celery and garlic. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly add chicken broth, and chicken base, stirring as you go. Add water, bay leaves, thyme, basil, parsley, lemon pepper, cayenne pepper, House Seasoning, soy sauce and tomatoes. Cut sausage into 1/2-inch pieces. Add to pot along with okra. Cover pot and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add oysters, crabmeat, shrimp and scallops. Simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Serve over hot buttered rice. Sprinkle with file powder on top of bowl and stir in.

Tip: Add file powder after putting gumbo into individual serving bowls. Adding file into the pot will make the gumbo too thick as File powder acts as a thickening agent.

House Seasoning:
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder

Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups

 

[texasgirl]

Wow, that sounds good!! Thanks for posting abj!!

 

[lindatooo]

Ah sounds wonderful - my only problem with Gumbo is that I tend to make enough for an army and there are just the two of us here - another wonderful fall/winter recipe - thanks!

 

[abjcooking]

lindatooo, I know what you mean, there are only two of us here also. This gumbo recipe made enough to feed us for several weeks. But what I did was envite several of our friends over for a "gumbo/cajun night", put half of it in the freezer, and then have enough for the rest of the week. You could also cut the recipe in half which will help as well. It has been raining for the past 5 days up here and the temp has really cooled off so this spicy recipe hit just right and got unbelievable reviews from all my friends.

 

[texasgirl]

This is the recipe that I used last night, and it was great!!
Now, will it still be good for reheating today? I let it cool before refrigerating.

 

[Ham Hock]

I Adore Paula Deen and would LOVE to whip a pot of Gumbo up with her.

Here is my version, home spun and straight out of the bayou.
I am a Gumbo Lunatic and this is one of my favorites.


Seafood Gumbo Supreme

1 pound Hillshire farms smoked sausage or andoullie if you can get it
2 pounds medium shrimp, use shells for stock.
1 quart of oysters in liquor
1 container crab meat or more if you can afford it
1 package of frozen bay scallops or sea scallops
1 package cooked crawfish tails

For the stock:
1 smoked ham hock
shrimp shells
onion, garlic, celery, carrots, rosemary, thyme
water to cover
1 cup white wine

1/2 to 3/4 cups each flour and oil for roux

2 Onions chopped
2 Bell peppers chopped
1 cup chopped Celery
lotsa garlic
1 package fresh button mushrooms
1 can sliced water chestnuts
pimentos
1/2 cup chopped pecans (no bitter)
fresh chives
fresh parsley
fresh basil
thyme
Two Bay Leaves
white pepper
1/2 cup honey
1 cup White wine
2 tlbs worschester sauce
clam juice
salt and pepper (go easy on the salt if you use any at all)

French Bread
Potato Salad
White wine
Layered white rice

Peel uncooked shrimp, put shells, ham hock, course chopped onion, celery, and peps, garlic, pepper, carrots wine in pot to boil. Cook at least an hour and strain the stock and discard all but the stock.

Chop your oinions, bell peps, celery and set aside in big bowl to cool the roux.

Make roux and when at the desired color, turn off heat, dump the chopped veggies in and keep stirring until all cooking has stopped completely.

Bring stock to a boil and add the cooled roux mixture a laddle full at a time, stirring it into the stock. (dont add hot roux to hot stock, it will seperate)

Add, sausage cut as you wish, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, white black and red pepper, or not, let simmer for 20 minutes. Dont add any salt to the gumbo, the seafood has salt in it.

Add water chestnuts, mushrooms, pecans, pimento, honey, worstershire, let simmer until mushrooms are cooked.

In a blender, puree the oysters and their liquor with half a small onion and a clove of garlic until it is as smooth as a milkshake, completely broken down.

Pour oysters into pot, add the shrimp, bottle of clam juice, crabmeat, scallops and crawfish tails and simmer for only another 10 minutes so you dont over cook the seafood.
At the very end test for salt but be careful or you will over salt it.

Make 3 cups of white rice, chop up the chives, parsley, and sweet basil and mix it up well in the rice once it has cooled.
Serve gumbo over rice.

Serve with potato salad, French bread, and white wine.