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Lou's Cafe!

Magnolia Brew Pub

Spicy Seafood and Sausage Gumbo

From Williams-Sonoma Soup cookbook!

Ingredients

1 large yellow onion
1 each red and green bell pepper
1/2 okra
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
6 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, with juice
5 cups fish stock or clam juice
2 bay leaves
2.5 tbsp Creole seasoning blend
salt and pepper
1/2 lb andouille sausage, sliced into 1-inch thick pieces
1 lb large shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 cup crabmeat (6 oz.) picked over for shell fragments
1 tsp filé powder
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley (italian or flat leaf)

Dice the onion and the bell peppers. Set aside. Trim the stems from the okra pods, then cut the pods crosswise into slices 1/2 inch thick. In a large, heavy soup pot over medium heat, warm 2 tbsp of the oil. Add the okra and sauté, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and softened, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

In the same pot over medium heat, warm the remaining 6 tbsp oil for 2 minutes. Whisk in the flour until incorporated. Cook the mixture, or roux, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until dark brown, about 4 minutes. Do not let the roux turn black. Add the onion and bell peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 8-10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute longer.

Add the reserved okra, tomatoes and juice, stock, bay leaves, Creole seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste. Brin got a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes to blend the flavors.

Stir in the sausage, shrimp, and crab meat and cook until the sausage is heated through and the shrimp are pink, 3 minutes longer. Sprinkle in the filé powder and stir for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and discard the bay leaves.

To serve, spoon rice into warmed bowls, ladle the gumbo on top, and garnish with the parsley.

My differences in prep and execution: Ingredient differences or notes: omitted crab (not in season), used frozen okra (again not in season, thaw for a few minutes in warm water before slicing), sliced the sausage thinly instead of 1-inch thick pieces (seemed like a better idea), used chicken stock instead of fish stock or clam juice (my safeway sucks), even though my safeway sucks, they did have the filé powder - Zataran’s brand. Procedure differences or notes: probably only sautéed the okra for about 11 minutes, not sure if it’s because it was frozen and then thawed, but it looked golden at this point. Cooked the roux until it was maybe a dark burnt orange color, then we chickened out and added the peppers and onions, no idea if it should have been darker or not, but the gumbo turned out great regardless. Start the rice after you add the stock, it’ll finish around the same time; although we started the rice at the okra sauté stage, and the gumbo warmed it right back up in the bowl.