Gumbo can have just about anything in it you like but my favorite is plain shrimp gumbo. You can use shrimp, crab, fish, oysters, chicken, sausage, duck, dove or just about any combination you can think of. As I said before shrimp is my favorite, chicken and andouille sausage is pretty good too.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup fat - olive oil or butter or a combination are good choices
1 cup celery chopped
1 cup chopped bell peppers and or seeded chopped jalapeño peppers
2 cups okra chopped in 1/2" pieces you can use frozen okra, if frozen a 1 lb package works well
2 bunches of green onions chopped
2 tablespoons of fresh parsley chopped
1 tablespoon garlic minced - more if you like
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons of salt - to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper - to taste
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper - to taste
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 1/2 to 2 lbs of cleaned deveined shrimp
20 ounces of water or seafood stock
Instructions:
Start by chopping the vegetables and set near the stove in reach of your pot. In a large pot, I use a 5 1/2 quart enameled dutch oven. Heat the fat (oil) over medium high heat. Add the flour and stir constantly with a whisk if you have one. If not a wooden spoon worked great for my mom and grandmother. Making the roux is everything and it demands your complete attention. You must not burn the roux. If you do, throw it out, wash the pot and start over. Roux is not hard to make at all, it just takes your attention, so don't talk on the phone or do anything else for the 15 or 20 minutes it takes to make the roux. In equal parts fat and flour the roux will form a slurry, it will be pretty liquid and that is fine. Stir constantly and make sure you don't miss any spots. Keep cooking on medium high until the roux gets the color of peanut butter or milk chocolate. At that point especially if you have an electric stove you may want to turn the heat down to medium. Don't forget to keep stirring. I like my roux about the color of an old penny or dark reddish brown. Get it as dark as you dare, the first couple of times it will probably be a little lighter. Not to worry it will taste just fine. After you make it a few times you can decide just how dark you and your family like it. When the roux reaches the color you want dump the chopped vegetables in all at once quickly, then stir with a wooden spoon. This will stop the roux from getting any darker. Cook the vegetables for about 5 minutes. Season with the salt, pepper, cayenne and throw in the bay leaves. Add the water while whisking gently until the roux is dissolved and no longer adheres to the vegetables. Let this cook for at least an hour. If you are going to let it cook most of the afternoon say 3 hours you might want to add a few ounces of water to start with use say 24 oz of water to start with. The longer the vegetables cook in the roux the better. It will taste even better the next day. In fact you could stop right here and finish it the next day if you wish. About 30 minutes before you want to eat put on about 1 1/2 cups of rice. I use Uncle Ben's long grain white rice. If you use 1 1/2 cups of rice, use 3 cups of water, salt to taste maybe a table spoon or two of butter and bring to a rolling boil, cover turn to low and cook for 20 minutes. turn off the heat and let sit 10 minutes. While the rice is cooking taste the gumbo and add salt if needed. About 15 minutes before the rice is done turn up the heat on the gumbo stir in the shrimp and let cook for about 10 or 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice and stir. Serve over the white rice and garnish with some fresh parsley and or chopped green onions if you like.
Active time about 1 hour - Inactive time 2 hours - total 3 hours.
A few comments - if it doesn't have okra - it ain't gumbo to me! You can talk all day about file and all that stuff - fine - I don't care - the above is gumbo to me! If you have to have file you can add it as a condiment at the table - same with Tabasco or Louisiana Hot Sauce.
I prefer to use cayenne as the heat source because it is traditional and because it is controllable. Some people put whole jalapeños in and remove them later. the problem is that you never know just how hot the whole jalapeños will be. Sometime two will be just right and the next time they will have no heat at all. Cayenne is consistent 1/4 teaspoon always tastes like 1/4 teaspoon.
This will serve about 4 people as a main dish with a little left over. This recipe is easily doubled just maintain the correct proportions. If you don't have the money for 2 lbs of shrimp use 1 lb it will be fine. I try to use fresh wild caught shrimp. When I go fishing I buy them off the boat and bring them back. You can't always do that, just get the freshest seafood you can. If there is none, try the chicken - andouille.
The finished product:
Notes on making roux:
A classic roux is one part flour one part fat cooked to varying degrees, depending on the use. It may be cooked for only a few minutes as in a Bechamel Sauce or very dark as in some gumbo. If you know how to make cream gravy you already know how to make a light roux!
The degree of darkness you choose depends on whether you are making Étouffée, Gumbo, or a roux for a gravy or some other stew or sauce. There are as many opinions as there are cooks on how dark the roux should be for Gumbo, so make it the way you like it! I am going to give you some pointers on making the roux and my preferences on color.
To get started you need fat and flour. It doesn't really matter what the fat is. It can be lard, corn oil, olive oil, butter or any combination. I normally use olive oil, sometimes I add some butter if I want to add some richness. If you use butter be sure and use unsalted butter.
As I mentioned above the classic roux is one part fat one part flour, but don't fret over this. My mom used to add just enough oil to make a paste, then she cooked it slowly for hours. I don't do this it just takes too long. I start out at medium high then add the oil, and when it is hot I add the flour. I make my roux in an enameled Dutch oven and I use a wire whisk to stir. I combine the flour and oil and if it is too thick I add a little more oil. Stir the roux constantly and the darker it gets the more you need to stir. If you keep stirring you should not burn the roux. If it starts going too fast just turn it down to medium or take it off the burner if you have an electric stove and it starts to get away from you, but don't stop stirring. I find that when the roux is more liquid than solid, that is more runny than paste it is easier to control. If you burn it, throw it out and start over. Be sure to wash the pan and utensils before starting again.
When to stop? This is a matter of endless argument among Gumbo cooks! Don't sweat it! Its your Gumbo - do it like you like it! Here are some guide lines you can use as a starting point.
For Gumbo I like a dark roux - about the color of and old penny. For Étouffée slightly lighter say about milk chocolate color will do nicely. It should take about 15 or 20 minutes to make the roux. It is important to have all your chopped vegetables in a bowl right next to the stove to dump them in all at once. Don't mess around with this for two reasons. One is that when the veggies hit the roux and are mixed in it stops the roux from getting any darker, the second is that when the cool veggies hit the hot roux it will pop and spatter. You do not want to have hot roux spatter you! It is like Cajun Napalm! When the vegetables cover all the roux at once it stops any spatter. Have a wooden spoon handy to stir the vegetables and roux combination. It is a good idea to turn on the vent fan when making roux. While it doesn't smell bad, it is kind of strong. When you add your liquid when making Gumbo or Étouffée use a whisk to stir out the lumps.
The best way to make a successful roux is to be confident. There is no magic involved so don't worry. It jst takes about 20 minutes of undivided attention.
Enjoy! Johnny
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