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2/21/13 – Carl Seiley
Hope you all have been enjoying Leslie’s recipes! Liz and I certainly have been! I strongly recommend trying last week’s brownies… amazing!
We are shaking things up this week. I’m sharing a family tradition that my dad taught us to make… GUMBO! Although I was’t born on a bayou, I’m still very proud of my Cajun heritage, and some recent events (Super Bowl in New Orleans, Mardi Gras) got me really excited to share some southern soul with FLIP Foodies. Gumbo isn’t just any kind of soup or stew… it’s a soulful dish that takes love and time!
Gumbo may not be considered a health food, although there are ways to make it healthier (healthier version of Roux, load it with veggies, keep the meat lean and clean). But there’s another dimension to health and well-being that few meals can bring out quite like gumbo; sharing an experience, a process, and lots of laugh and love with family.
Gumbo takes a lot of time to make, but find the right person to make it with and it can be a lot of fun; as my dad showed my brother and I several years back, passing down his recipe, listening to CCR and sipping Jack Daniels (we needed it for the recipe… “the Roux is ready when its the color of Jack.” Or maybe that was pop’s clever way of sneaking Jack in between treatments. Either way, beautiful!)
And of course if you are going to spend that much time making it, you better make a lot, and bring the family together. Liz and I made gumbo to celebrate my mom and older brother’s birthdays – which being a vegetarian, was really cool for him, since this was the first time he’d had our family recipe in 20 years.
So make a grocery list & playlist, find a cooking friend, grab the Jack and get ready!
FLIP’s Seafood Gumbo!
Serves:6-10 people(Great for leftovers)
Ingredients
- Broth 3 Quarts Vegetable Broth
- Pop’s seasoning blend… poultry seasoning, peppercorn, garlic powder, celery salt, a little bit of crushed red pepper, and file’ – a special Cajun seasoning, hard to find. (measure to taste)
- Roux (typically made with canola oil, or lard and white flour. If you want to avoid oil all together, there’s even a way to bake the flour without using oil)
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 large yellow onions (diced)
- Gumbo Ingredients
- 3 to 4 cans of ro-tel t tomatoes (if you can find tomatoes in a jar, please let me know! Tomatoes in a can are on the “foods to avoid” list. But, we made an exception for tradition)
- 2 bags of frozen okra
- 5 to 6 stalks of celery (diced)
- 5 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 to 2 pounds peeled, raw shrimp (40-60 count)
- 1 cup fresh mussels – optional
- 1/2 pound lump crabmeat
- Steamed brown rice for serving
Not a seafood fan? The beautiful thing about gumbo is you can use any meat imaginable (including squirrel and rabbit like my papaw use to make it) and it still tastes great! Try turkey or chicken. It usually calls for sausage, which we recommend avoiding.
- Dice up your onions first and set them on the side.
- The longest part of making any gumbo is the Roux. Add ingredients oil and flour into a skillet (preferably cast iron). Heat on medium (olive oil has a lower smoking point, so use medium heat). Here is the hard part… you have to constantly stir the flour and oil making sure that the mixture doesn’t burn in the pan. Keep on medium heat… 45 minutes to an hour is how long you should stir for. Make sure to have a glass of wine or Jack in hand! Roux is typically ready when its dark brown (the color of Jack)… but when you substitute whole wheat flour, it already starts out this color. So you just have to time it, and taste it. It should have a rich, smoky, earthy flavor. DON’T burn it, or you’ll have to throw it out and start over.
- While stirring, pour vegetable broth in large pot on medium heat. Add tomatoes, garlic, celery, and okra once broth is heated.
- When the Roux is ready add diced onions to the roux and stir until onions are wilted. (pop’s secret touch)
- Add Roux to the pot and continue to stir.
- Add the seasonings to the pot, simmer, and taste. Add more seasoning for flavor if needed.
- Add Shrimp, mussels, and crab meat. Stir together and let simmer!
- Make the brown rice while the Gumbo is cooking.
- Serve up and enjoy!