Travels with George and Marta

It is week 1- of the Sunday Slow Soupers ~ a group of Slow Travel members cooking soup and blogging together every Sunday. This week’s soup is Seafood Gumbo selected by Sandi of Whistlestop Cafe Cooking.

The secret of a good gumbo is the roux. I’m still too cautious when making a roux. I never let it brown enough. Check out Sandi’s – it is almost chocolate in color. Long slow fire makes for a well seasoned roux.

I’m used to making a golden colored roux for enchilada sauce. I toast the flour first until it has tanned and then add the oil. I know the flavor will deepen if I let it brown – I just haven’t gotten the confidence to try it yet. This is what my roux looked like:

After browning the roux, I added the vegetables. G doesn’t eat meat and poultry so I had to modify Sandi’s recipe. I added more vegetables, yellow onion and celery in addition to green peppers. I continued to brown the mixture while cooking the vegetables. After about 10 minutes, I added garlic, okra and some herbs to the mixture ( pinches of oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme, paprika and cayenne pepper) and continued to cook.

Next I added broths. I took the shells from the shrimps, covered with water and simmered to create a light shrimp broth. I added vegetable broth to this and added to the flour vegetable mix stirring vigorously to combine. Simmer this for about 30 minutes to cook out the flour taste.

Just before serving, add the seafood. I used shrimp and bay scallops. You can also use oysters and white fish. Serve over white rice and Enjoy! Thanks Sandi!

Seafood Gumbo
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup all purpose flour
1# chicken pieces
1# large shrimp, bay scallops, oysters
1# Andouille sausage
32 oz chicken broth
2 bell peppers, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp salt & pepper
½ tsp cayenne pepper (more or less)
chopped parsley
bunch of green onions chopped
In a large pot, saute onions and peppers. Add sausage and brown. Add water, spices, and chicken; simmer until the chicken is cooked through (if you use chicken on the bone you can cool it and pull it now) Use this broth as a part of your chicken broth.

Start the gumbo by making your roux. Use a heavy skillet and stir together flour and oil until it is a cocoa brown and thick, smooth consistency. You will want to start adding some broth to the skillet to thin your roux, then pour the it into the big pot. Stir like hell. Add chicken broth, stir some more until there are no clumps.

Cover and simmer. This will help to thicken the gumbo. Add cleaned shrimp and scallops, cooking on medium heat till shrimp are pink (10 minutes) Add the delicate oysters last. Remove from heat. Let stand for 10 minutes.

My modifications:
I referred to the seafood gumbo recipe from the Gumbo Pages for suggestion. I used 3 TBS flour, 3 TBS oil for the roux. I used about 1/2 onion, 1 celery stalk and 1/2 green bell pepper, 2 cloves garlic and about 8 pieces of okra. I added 4 cups of broth, 1/2 lb shrimp and 1/2 lb scallops. This provided a good sized serving for 2 hungry people.