Thursday, March 10, 2011

The Big Easy: Gumbo

Gumbo as a culinary entity is the quintessential embodiment of the multicultural melting pot that is the city of New Orleans. The stew begins with a French cooking technique, the roux, whisking flour into animal fat, often butter, to create a thick gravy that flavors the dish. The Cajun dish combines New World ingredients with African flavors, using the bay leaves and spices introduced to the French Lousiana settlers by the Native Americans, and the vegetable okra, which was brought over by West African slaves. Gumbo was adapted over time, and as the locals with tell you, there's no one set recipe for gumbo. Here's mine:

Few tablespoons of butter and flour
Gumbo seasoning mix from French Quarter, New Orleans (the real stuff)
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/8 cup chopped carrot
1/3 cup chopped green onion
2 tbps. minced garlic
1 cup sliced okra (fresh is best, but defrosted frozen will do in a pinch)
2 cups chicken stock/2 cups water (can use fish stock if going super-seafood flavor)
1 bottle of clam juice
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 tbsp. Cajun seasoning blend
1-2 tbps. cayenne pepper
3 bay leaves
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. dried basil
1 package Andouille sausage, sliced
2 lbs. shrimp, peeled and deveined (I use tail-on - all the shrimpy flavor's in the tail!)
black pepper to taste (I found no extra salt necessary with all the salty flavor from the sausage and Cajun seasoning blend, which is super salty on its own!)
dash Tabasco (as usual, I like it hot)
1-2 scallions, chopped, for garnish
*Serve over rice to soak up all the broth's flavor.

1) In a large heavy saucepan over low heat, melt the butter, add in the flour and whisk in, stirring constantly, until the roux is dark brown in color. (This can take up to 30 min.) In a separate pot I poured the Cajun gumbo seasoning into a few cups of water and brought to a boil, stirring until the lumps were dissolved.
2) Add the onions, celery, garlic, and peppers to the roux, sauteing until the onions are translucent. Then season with spices and herbs and pour the Cajun gumbo seasoning in the pot, stirring to evenly coat.
3) Mix in the okra, then pour in the stock, clam juice, water, diced tomatoes with their juice, bay leaves, and bring up heat to medium.
4) Add the shrimp and sausage and simmer over medium-low heat for up to an hour.
5) Remove the bay leaves and adjust seasoning to taste, serving over white rice.

This gumbo tastes even better the next day!


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