Seafood Gumbo

I have been missing my home town New Orleans quite a bit. I always love the food that comes from that town and I can cook just about everything under the sun. I make great red beans and rice, dirty rice, and jambalaya! The only other thing that I have never tried to make is Seafood Gumbo. I have always been afraid of it and the roux. Finally the other day I decided it time to concur your fear and just do it. So Sunday I made Seafood Gumbo and here is how it goes. I got the recipe from a cookbook that I bought with Cajun recipes. They always turn out good.

Ingredients:
Onion
Green Bell Pepper
1 celery stalk
White and Black Pepper
Salt
Thyme
Cayenne Pepper


Meats......
Blue Crab(yum)

Shrimp with skins and heads. (You'll find out in a minute why)

Crawfish

The first step is to make your seafood stock. Take the biggest pot you have and fill it up half way with water. Tap is fine.


Boil the crab in one pot and the shrimp skins and heads in another. Your house will fill up with the smell of seafood (which I have always loved).

Crab boil

This is the shrimp...

While that is boiling you can chop up your veggies like so...

You should have let the seafood boil for about 30 minutes and this is what it looks like after. Looks gross but smells great.

If you can try and let the crabs cool off before you go digging for meat. Unfortunately there was very little in this thing so I guess you could say I used it just for the stock. Good thing I got it on sale.

Time to make the roux....(brown thickener, for those that don't speak cooking)

Equal parts flour and oil into the pot.

Mix it well before you turn the heat on because it will cook oh so fast. I did use a spatula for the stirring part and you just stir and stir until the color reminds you of chocolate.

Looks like this on a finished product. I tried to get the different stages but it was hot and it cooked way to fast. After you get the desired color you put in the veggies and cook for 5 minutes. This will slow the cooking down and not burn the roux.

Add the diced tomatoes

Scrape, scrape, scrape your little heart out for another 10 minutes for everything to cook together. Also don't forget to add the seasonings at this point and a spoon full of minced garlic.

Add Bay Leaf (well in my case I added 2)

Put in the stock and cook for 1 hour.

Add the meat and stir. Take off the burner and let sit for 20 minutes. It taste better later then right out the pot.

This is the finished product and yes it was as good as it looks. I paired it with some garlic bread.