Week 3: Seafood Gumbo

seafood gumbo   |   shellfish stock

I have a confession to make. This is going to be difficult to admit. I’ve never made gumbo. I’VE NEVER MADE GUMBO!! Whew! Feels great getting that off my chest! Okay, that’s not that big of a deal right? Except that I was born in New Orleans, and I feel like I’ve ignored my heritage & let my people down. At least, sort of. You know that bumper sticker “I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could”? I am quite confident that was written about me. Seriously. I moved to Texas when I was like 3 months old. But I did go back. I spent many childhood summers visiting my father’s home in Slidell (across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans). Even as a kid, watching him cook dinner for just us, or friends, or even the entire neighborhood, I could see cajun cuisine was more than delicious food. It’s combining intense flavors, putting love into your food & bringing people together. I do that all the time - surely I can make gumbo! 

This confession lead me to this week’s meal! I have a gut feeling the best gumbo recipes come from faded & stained cookbooks passed between generations. My father is no longer with us, so I can’t ask him for his recipe (though I’d be willing to bet he didn’t even use one!). So, to the interwebs I go. I found about 2.4 million search results for ‘gumbo’. 1.9 million for ‘seafood gumbo’. Alright fine, I'll be more specific. One of my favorite chefs that calls New Orleans home is John Besh. Search ‘John Besh seafood gumbo’ & bingo! Only 10,000 results. Here is the recipe I started with:

John Besh's Seafood Gumbo

SHELLFISH STOCK

The first step is to start your stock. I based the shellfish stock off of Ina Garten’s seafood stock Ina Garten's Seafood Stock. Her recipe yields approximately 1 quart (and the gumbo recipe called for 5 quarts) so I made it with these changes:

2 tablespoons olive oil

Shells from 2 pounds medium shrimp

2 medium yellow onions, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

3 stalks of celery, chopped

3 tablespoons chopped garlic

1 can tomato paste

1 cup okay white wine (let’s be honest, my “good” white wine goes in a glass!) 

1.5 tablespoons of kosher salt

1.5 tablespoons whole peppercorns

10-15 sprigs of thyme

1 tablespoon cajun seasoning

Heat oil in a large stockpot. Saute shrimp shells, onions, carrots, and celery for about 15 minutes. In the last few minutes, the shells & onions will start browning up. Add in garlic cloves & saute for 2 more minutes. Stir in tomato paste. Add in remaining ingredients & 5 quarts of water. Bring to a boil & simmer for about an hour. Strain through a sieve. Or if you are like me and don’t have commercial kitchen supplies, a large pitcher, mesh colander & help from a spouse/friend works well. Caution: hot liquids! 

GUMBO

1 cup canola oil

1 cup flour

2 yellow onions, chopped

1 pound andouille sausage

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 tablespoons crushed garlic

1 cup sliced okra

leaves from 3 sprigs of thyme

4 quarts seafood stock

3 bay leaves

2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled & deveined

1 cup petite scallops

1 cup lump crab meat

1 cup minced green onions

Salt & pepper

Cajun seasoning

Worcestershire

Louisiana hot sauce

I made this in a 6 quart dutch oven. It’s a hand-me-down from my Granny (the one that texts) & I almost ran out of room. Some helpful pointers: 

Before you start, cut/prep/group all of your ingredients in prep dishes. It will save you from burning your roux or missing an ingredient or step. And you’ll feel all chef-y.  

For your roux, whisk the entire time. Don’t walk away. Not even for a refill of wine (or another Moscow mule). It took me about 20 minutes before the roux had the color I wanted, and I was going for milk chocolate. 

Heat oil over high. Add flour & whisk constantly for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until roux reaches desired color. 

Add onions & cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. It will begin to look like caramel covered onions. Have no fear - you’re building flavor. 

Add in sausage & cook for 1 minute, stirring occasionally. (Disclaimer: Besh’s recipe called for jumbo blue crabs, which my market did not have. If this recipe could have been improved, it would be please DO NOT skip out on the crab, per hubby Jeremy). 

Add in celery, green bell pepper, garlic cloves and okra & cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Add in thyme, shellfish stock & bay leaves. Bring to a boil, stir, reduce heat & simmer for 45 minutes. 

Add in shrimp, scallops, crabmeat and green onions & cook for 10 minutes. 

For the last step, you’ll have to use your own taster. Here’s a good baseline if you don’t trust yourself: 3 twists of cracked sea salt, 5 twists of cracked pepper, a heaping spoonful of cajun seasoning, 3-4 dashes of worcestershire & 10-12 drops of Louisiana hot sauce. Serve over white rice with French bread. 

Alright, so my thoughts on this... I moved away from Louisiana at 3 months old, but I may still have a little cajun blood in me. For my first ever gumbo, I have to say this was pretty stinking good. Like really really good. Like impress your in-laws & the food snobs down the street good. Okay, I probably can’t fool everyone, but I made this for my parents and hubby while the football games were on this past Sunday. We all agreed it was authentic & delicious - I hope your family enjoys it too!