Making gumbo is a long standing Southern tradition but, even though I really embrace my Southern identity, I’ve only made it a few times before and it’s been quite a while since I’ve done it. So, I approached this foray into the gumbo recipe with great enthusiasm. I was able to get authentic Louisiana andouille sausage here in town, at Southern Seafoods, where I got the super fresh shrimp and scallops. But great ingredients aside, I know the key to gumbo is in the roux. Sandi said cook it until it’s cocoa brown. I think I was really a couple of minutes short of cocoa but the beautifully smooth, coffee colored roux I saw in my pan looked just right to me.

The smell of the onions and peppers cooking with the sausage was enough to know this was going to be great. The finished product did not disappoint. I cooked the shrimp and scallops for only a few minutes and served it in bowls, over rice, and with a nice green salad. Rating–ten out of ten!

My friend Nina said it would be helpful if I included the original recipes in these blog posts so here it is:
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.
Serve in a large bowl on top of a scoop of rice, with a garnish of green onions.
Y’all Enjoy!
So, there’s the recipe.
I am going to try to blog EVERYDAY is February so look for lots of posts next month!