Shrimp Gumbo

Shrimp Gumbo
Recipe Number: 1104605219
Contributor: Judy Updike
Rating: 10.00 based on 2 votes
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Serves: 6-8
Calories Per Serving: ?
Preparation Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Average
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Ingredients:

2 slices good quality, thick sliced bacon

1 large can or 2 small, exact amount isn’t important, chopped tomatoes

½ pound smoked link sausage
1 cup coarsely chopped green pepper
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
Old Bay seasoning
4 cups of water
2 vegetable bullion cubes

Jane’s Crazy Mixed Up Salt
File’

2 cups sliced okra (yes, OKRA. This isn’t good without it, and it also thickens it)

1-2 pounds small, de-veined shrimp

1 cup crab meat (I personally hate to waste perfectly good crab meat because it actually gets lost in all the other ingredients, but some people do put it in)

Cooking Instructions:

First, you make a roux .... all gumbo recipes start with this little statement. Brown the bacon in a large, heavy soup pot sprayed with Pam, or one of those non-stick sprays and remove bacon. Add pepper and onion till tender, and remove.

At this time, you should have about 1/3 cup of fat but if you don’t, add a little olive or vegetable oil. Let the bacon fat cool a little, add 2-3 tablespoons of plain flour and whisk till smooth. Continue stirring with a wood spoon until it browns a little and is the consistency of, let’s see ... gravy? or a cream sauce, etc. It’s hard to really say, so just wing it. And, I’ve stood and stirred the roux for an hour or two like the real Cajun cooks and stirred just until it browned a little. I can’t tell the difference! Then, pour in tomatoes, onion, peppers, the broken pieces of bacon, Old Bay to taste, Crazy Mixed Up Salt to taste, black pepper, and file’. Better be careful with the file’, it’s spicy, HOT!!

Bring to barely boiling and turn down to simmer. Cut the sausage in ½” thick rounds and brown in skillet, drain (I don’t personally like the taste of sausage fat). Add to gumbo pot and go take a nap or run the vacuum or something for at least a couple of hours.

If possible, refrigerate for a few hours. Don’t know why, but it always tastes better when you do. About an hour before serving time, add the okra and bring back to simmer. If you use frozen shrimp, which with this much seasoning, etc., it‘s almost as good, thaw and drain well or you’ll have thin gumbo. Add shrimp and cook only til they curl and turn pink, not usually more than about 15 minutes. Don’t overcook them, they’ll be tough.

Serve in a shallow bowl over a little plain, white rice. I usually serve corn muffins or crusty garlic buttered French bread and a salad……..

One really important point, keep tasting since no one but yourself really knows how you like things to taste. Since I don’t really use recipes, I always do lots of tasting. Sometimes I taste so much that I don’t even want anymore til the next day. It’s better then anyway and freezes well too.