gumbo

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Serves 4 - 6

Protein: Depends on what you want

Seafood: 2 lbs shrimp, deveined. 1 lb hearty white fish. Oysters. Crawfish. Crab.  Pretty much anything you want - all will cook in the gumbo without pre-cooking.

Chicken & Sausage: 2 lbs chicken (I prefer dark meat). 1 lb Andouille sausage. Can sub sausage of your choice - I like Slovacek's jalapeno sausage. You will want to brown the chicken and sausage before adding it to the gumbo.

For the ROUX:

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp bacon fat

½ cup AP Flour

For the GUMBO

1 large onion, diced

4-6 celery stalks, diced

1 large green bell pepper, diced

64 oz of broth. Could be seafood or chicken

1 pkg. frozen okra

Protein (see above)

Salt/Pepper 

Combine ingredients for Roux in a large pan over medium heat. Stir CONSTANTLY until roux is a dark chocolate color. DO NOT BURN. This process should take 30-45 minutes. Slow. Stir a lot. 

Add "trinity" to the darkened roux (onions, celery, bell pepper). Cook until onions are translucent and peppers have softened. Add broth, Stir. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. 

At this point, it is protein time. You can add your proteins of choice, but if using shrimp save it for last. Simmer for 1 up to 4 hours. within one hour to service, add shrimp (if using) and frozen okra. 

Serve over or with rice or potato salad. 

BONUS: You can use pretty much any protein combination in this recipe. I like to serve over some Tony Chachere's seasoned rice.