1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup oil
1 pound shrimp, cleaned, peeled and deveined
1 pound crawfish tails, cleaned and deveined
1 pound white-fleshed fish fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 to 3 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped scallions (green onions)
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
4 to 6 garlic cloves, minced
1 lemon, halved and seeded
3 quarts seafood stock (see above)
Salt, black pepper and hot sauce to taste
Plenty of cooked rice
Filé powder
Instructions:
First chop your vegetables and parsley, mince the garlic, and put your stock in a pot on a back burner.
Now make a nice dark roux. The process for making this gumbo
begins identically to that for making a chicken and andouille gumbo, except that we are making a bit more roux. Once you've made the roux, cooked the onion, scallions, bell pepper, celery, parsley and garlic in it, and blended in your hot seafood
stock little by little, reduce the heat to a simmer.
Add the lemon halves and seasonings, including black pepper and
hot sauce. As in the previous recipe, go easy on both the spiciness and the salt -- you can always add more of both later. After tasting and correcting the seasonings, simmer, covered, for an hour or so, stirring occasionally, before adding the seafood. This will allow the gumbo base to build character without overcooking the seafood.
Finally, add the seafood to the pot and continue simmering, covered, for another hour or so, giving the pot an occasional stir or two. About half an hour after adding the seafood to the pot, start cooking your rice. When the rice is done, the gumbo will be, too. Remove the lemon halves, taste the gumbo, and make any last-minute adjustments. To serve, put some rice in each bowl, sprinkle with filé powder, and ladle in a generous helping of gumbo. Sprinkle some chopped parsley and scallions on top, and it's gumbo time!
This recipe yields about eight servings, and can be reduced to
about two-thirds the quantity if you wish. Any leftovers will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator.
Don't feel overly constrained by this (or any other) gumbo recipe. Substitutions and additions are what gumbo is all about. This recipe will make you a delicious seafood gumbo, but it's
far from being the only delicious seafood gumbo you might make -- so if, for example, you can't get crawfish tails, don't let that hold you back. In particular,you might:
-Substitute another pound of shrimp for the crawfish tails.
-Add some dry white wine to the gumbo base.
-Toss in some sausage when you've finished blending the stock into the roux.
-Add some lump crabmeat to the recipe.
These are some of my favorite variations, but you can add pretty much any seafood that appeals to you. Also,most of the variations given at the end of the previous recipe work just as well here. Some folks like to add some oysters right at the end of the cooking process. Some like to cook the seafood longer, while others prefer the seafood to be barely cooked. All of these approaches can produce excellent gumbo if the chef has a clear idea what kind of final result he or she wants to achieve. Just keep tasting, keep experimenting, and enjoy that pot of gumbo!
