Anybody Hungry? How About Some Gumbo?

Jan 20, 2010 Cool Stuff
Posted by admin

My new friend Beth Accamondo who does the CINEMA JUNKIE blog for KPBS in San Diego sent me and Stew “Sugar-Mags” Goldstein a box of gourmet brownies for a Gumbo recipe! It was a sweet deal on our end, I think Beth got rooked, but I figured it was a pretty decent recipe and deserved to be posted here!

Okay, one of the things about gumbo is that no 2 are the same, gumbo is really more of a term like stew, consomme or chowder. So, pretty much whatever you got lying around can go in it. One of the things that is not in most gumbos is okra or file, not a lot of folks like okra and file is an easy out.

The proper way to thicken a gumbo is with a roux and there are various ways to make roux. I like to go simple, use 1 part oil, corn or canola (something with a high smoking point but not peanut oil) and one part flour. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan or Dutch oven, preferably cast-iron, at a low flame till it’s really hot then whisk in the flour stirring constantly. Cook for about 10-15 minutes depending on how dark you want the roux. If you are doing duck, turkey, venison or gator you might like your roux to be a little darker. Shrimp, fish, chicken and scallops you may want to go a little lighter but make sure that it’s fully cooked and doesn’t have a chalky taste. Separate a sample and let cool, please! You have no idea how hot and sticky roux can be, it’s like napalm. No joke!

To make your simple shrimp stock take the heads and shells from the cleaned shrimp and bring it to a boil in a quart or 2 of water with some celery innards. That’s why I like to use a quart of chicken stock so you can make the shrimp stock really intense. Always throw a few bay leaves in any stock, pork, chicken, beef, fish, whatever!

There’s also a recipe for a good no sodium Cajun spice mix. Let’s face it, you can always add salt at the table and don’t buy into that “iodide is a necessary nutrient” crap, Kosher salt tastes better and has 50% less absorbable sodium than table salt.

Cajun Spice

* 4 teaspoons Paprika
* 3 teaspoons Garlic powder
* 3 teaspoons Fr. ground pepper
* 2 1/2 teaspoons Onion powder
* 1 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
* 1 1/2 teaspoon Dried thyme — crumbled
* 1 1/2 teaspoon Dried oregano — crumbled

For the roux

* 4 ounces vegetable oil
* 4 ounces all-purpose flour

* 2 quarts stock (chicken or shrimp or both)  with one cup crushed or pureed tomatoes

* 2 cups of the TRINITY (1 cup diced onion, 1/2 cup diced celery, 1/2 cup diced green peppers)
* 1 tablespoon kosher salt
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
* 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon Cajun spice (no sodium)
* 1/2 pound andouille sausage, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and browned

* 2 tablespoons minced garlic

* 1 1/2 pounds raw, whole, head-on medium-sized (31-50 count) shrimp

1. Prepare the roux and bring stock & tomato to a simmer.
2. Take the diced onion, celery, green peppers & andouille and toss in the spice mix but save a little for the shrimp.
3. Once the stock is at temperature and the roux is ready and on a low heat, mix the trinity in with the roux and saute until onions start to look translucent, stirring constantly then add the garlic absolutely last.
4. Add the hot stock right after the garlic and stir with a whisk to insure there’s no clumping. The heat of the stock will help with this but you should still stir constantly!
5. Add shrimp and remaining spice mix, stir and bring to a low boil then simmer.
6. Continue to stir occasionally and it will be ready in 15. If it doesn’t look like it’s bubbling, don’t worry, there is plenty of heat in the mix!