Recipe Seafood Gumbo

[Morning Glory]

My first foray into making gumbo and now I know what all the fuss is about. The dark roux has a very special taste; earthy, bosky and musky. It works so well with seafood and smoky sausage*. I'll make versions of this again for sure. A total delight.

* Ideally the sausage should be andouille but as thats impossible to source in the UK, I used a good quality Bavarian style sausage. Do not use chorizo - it doesn't work!

Ingredients (serves 2)
For the roux:
1½ tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp vegetable oil
For the gumbo broth:
1 small stick of celery, finely chopped
1 small green pepper, finely chopped
½ a large onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 or 2 fresh bay leaves
450ml fish stock
1 green jalapeno pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
½ tsp hot chilli (optional)

To complete the gumbo
8-9 okra, some trimmed and left whole, some sliced into rings
1 medium sized smoked sausage, cut into chunky slices (I used a Bavarian sausage)
A selection of fresh seafood for two. I used:
1 small cooked crab (including claws), shelled
2 large crevettes shell on, shell removed but tail left on, to serve
10 mussels

Method
For the roux

1. Heat the oil in a pan and add the flour, stirring as you go. Simmer gently stirring from time to time to start with until the roux begins to turn golden, then keep stirring constantly.
2. Keep simmering until the roux becomes caramel brown. Set aside.

For the gumbo broth

1. Heat the oil in a pan and add the finely chopped celery, green pepper and onion. Cook gently until the mixture softens.
2. Stir the brown roux into the pan and add the stock. The mixture will seize up at first but then loosen.
3. Add the bay leaves, jalapeno, chilli, okra and sausage. Stir and simmer gently for ten minutes. Add more stock if needed.

To complete the gumbo

1. Add the seafood - if using large crevettes you can add those first and part cook, before adding the mussels and crab.
2. Simmer gently until the shellfish and crevettes are cooked. Serve with rice.

 

[caseydog]

Looks good to me. Good point you made... if you combine roux and stock at once, it will clump up for a while, but will slowly incorporate. I usually add my sautéed trinity to my roux, stir that for a minute or two, and add a little bit of stock at first, incorporate that, and add the rest. But, it works either way. Just don't let it scare you if you get lumps, at first.

CD

 

[Morning Glory]

I usually add my sautéed trinity to my roux, stir that for a minute or two,

I've seen lots of recipes where the trinity is added to the roux (unsautéed) but decided to soften it first. I couldn't quite see how the raw trinity would cook down in simply roux as the roux would carry on getting darker and possibly burn. So I decided to cook the trinity first. I probably did add the stock gradually - maybe I shall amend the instructions.

 

[caseydog]

I've seen lots of recipes where the trinity is added to the roux (unsautéed) but decided to soften it first. I couldn't quite see how the raw trinity would cook down in simply roux as the roux would carry on getting darker and possibly burn. So I decided to cook the trinity first. I probably did add the stock gradually - maybe I shall amend the instructions.

I agree. I sauté my trinity in a skillet first, then add it to the roux. I've never tried sweating the trinity directly in the roux. Like you, I'm afraid I'll overcook or even burn the roux.

CD