Seafood gumbo

 If you're one of the two people that follow my blog, you'll notice that my activity has dropped off a bit in the last month or so. I blame travel and work. Well, more like the combination, i.e. traveling for work. I also blame work travel for gaining a few pounds. I'm not sure how many, since I'm afraid to step on the scale!

Anyways, last week I was in New Orleans. Our hotel was right on the edge of the French Quarter, which was perfect. Not too noisy, but close to all of the night life. And there is a lot of night life, as some of my more reserved coworkers discovered when walking down Bourbon Street at 10PM. Their reactions still put a smile on my face!

So, as a food tourist in New Orleans, I got to taste many delicious items, including oyster poboys, beignets, chicory coffee, different types of gumbo, and turtle soup. I still can't believe I ordered the turtle soup, but the subtle flavor of sherry (FYI: a southern coworker suggested I ask for more sherry, and the waiter came right over with a bottle, so it must be a common request. Um, yum!) took away a lot of the guilt I had about eating such a cute creature. I've offered to make some for friends, but have yet to find any takers. So, I'm considering tricking hubby into eating it, since turtle meat kind of looks like chicken. I'll report back if (and when) I do!

Oyster poboy at Johnny's Poboys

Anyways, I again digress. After my bowl of seafood gumbo, I immediately got out my computer and started looking for recipes. This recipe, taken from allrecipes.com, was ranked highly and immediately caught my eye. (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/good-new-orleans-creole-gumbo/?scale=10&ismetric=0) I can't say enough good things about it. The recipe was fun to make and immediately brought me back to the French Quarter. The only drawback was that the ingredients were pretty expensive. Be warned! (I could kind of tell this while assembling my grocery list, but felt that the splurge would be worth it. It was!!!)
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

 1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp bacon drippings (12 ounces of bacon should do it)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped celery
1/2 large onion, coarsely chopped
1/2 large green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 lb andouile sausage, sliced
6 cups water
3 cubes beef bouilon
1.5 tsp white sugar
Salt to taste
1 tbsp hot pepper sauce, or to taste
1/4 tsp Cajun seasoning blend
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 14.5 ounce can stewed tomatoes
1/2 6 ounce can tomato sauce
1 tsp gumbo file powder
1 tbsp bacon drippings
1 10 ounce package frozen cut okra, thawed
1 tbsp distilled white vinegar
1/2 lb lump crabmeat
1.5 lbs uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp gumbo file powder

Directions

1. Make a roux by whisking the flour and 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp bacon drippings together in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat to form a smooth mixture. Cook the roux, whisking constantly, until it turns a rich mahogany brown color. This can take 20 to 30 minutes; watch heat carefully and whisk constantly or roux will burn. Remove from heat; continue whisking until mixture stops cooking.
2. Place the celery, onion, green bell pepper, and garlic into the work bowl of a food processor, and pulse until the vegetables are very finely chopped. Stir the vegetables into the roux, and mix in the sausage. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat, and cook until vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside.
3. Bring the water and beef bouillon cubes to a boil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot. Stir until the bouillon cubes dissolve, and whisk the roux mixture into the boiling water. Reduce heat to a simmer, and mix in the sugar, salt, hot pepper sauce, Cajun seasoning, bay leaves, thyme, stewed tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Simmer the soup over low heat for 1 hour; mix in 1 tsp of file gumbo powder at the 45-minute mark.
4. Meanwhile, melt 1 tbsp of bacon drippings in a skillet, and cook the okra with vinegar over medium heat for 15 minutes; remove okra with slotted spoon, and stir into the simmering gumbo. (I didn't cook my okra enough. They should probably be a bit crispy. Mine were lightly cooked and turned to mush in the gumbo.) Mix in crab meat, shrimp, and Worcestershire sauce, and simmer until flavors have blended, 45 more minutes. Just before serving, stir in 1 more tsp of file gumbo powder.