Louisiana Seafood Gumbo
Gumbo is arguably one of the most known and most popular Cajun dishes. It warms the heart and the soul. The dish originated in Louisiana in the 18th century and is thought to have cultural influence from the French, African, Spanish, and Native American Choctaw. Seafood gumbo is commonly a special occasion dish. My PawPaw Donald cooks this dish every Christmas Eve. There are no bigger snobs on what makes a proper Gumbo like those of Southern Louisiana. And I must admit that I am guilty of it as well. Whoops… To see a nearly clear color of some of these “gumbos” online can nearly drive me to drinking. Yikes. Honestly though, gumbo is a very forgiving dish and will vary greatly from cook to cook. I like mine between a rice and gravy to a stew like consistency and also dark in color.
2 lb Shrimp
2 lb crawfish
1 pint lump crabmeat
1 pint oysters or more deepening on preference
1-1.5 16 oz jar roux
1 lb scallops
water
64 oz seafood stock
2 large onions
1 large bellpepper
1 large head of garlic
1 rotel
1 tsp old bay seasoning
1 tsp basil
2 tsp Louisiana crawfish boil seasoning
Cayenne Pepper
Black Pepper
About 2 tbsp Garlic Powder
About 1 tbsp Onion Powder
Salt
3 bay leaves
1 cup green onions
1/2-3/4 cup parsley
Fill a Soup pot with seafood stock and water until its about half- 3/4 full (depends on your pot size. Mine was a huge Magnalite, so I filled to half mark.). Bring water to a boil at a medium to high heat setting.
Add roux slowly and stir often to prevent roux from sticking to bottom of the pot. Watch during this process carefully because the roux tends to foam and I had to clean my stove on more than one occasion due to it boiling over.
Once you are satisfied with the color and consistency, add onions, bell pepper, garlic, and rotel. Cook for at least 30 minutes until vegetables are well wilted. You can cook longer i.e. “put it on drink”. There are really no rules to how long you have to cook it. The only thing that matters is that you don’t end up with a watery gumbo. Yuck.
Add bay leaves, old bay seasoning, Louisiana crawfish boil seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, basil. Add Cayenne pepper, black pepper, and salt to taste.
Add about a cup of sliced green onions and a 1/2-3/4 cup of chopped parsley.
When you are satisfied with the taste of your gumbo, add shrimp, crawfish, crabmeat, oysters, and scallops. Return to a slight boil and then cook for about 5 minutes. Turn off heat. (the more you cook your seafood, the more it will shrink.)
Serve over rice.
