A few weeks ago, my youtube sister asked me to make an easy version of Gumbo. Well Coilsoflove this one is for you! Gumbo is a New Orleans style stew that is made differently in everyone’s home. Traditionally it is made with the holy trinity (onion, celery, and green peppers) with seafood elements in a deep brown broth.
However, my mother always made our family gumbo in a tomato based sauce. Today, I am going to share our family recipe with my own little twist. Just know that these meats and seafood options are interchangeable but the overall flavor is always DELICIOUS! Enough talking let’s cook!
What You Will Need:
2 pounds of Boneless Chicken Thighs
2 Pounds of Smoked Sausage ( I used Turkey Sausage with Green Pepper and Onion)
2 Pounds of Shrimp Peeled and Deveined
2 Chopped pieces of Bacon
1 Cup of Lump Crab Meat (Optional) or Steamed Whole Crabs with Old Bay Seasoning
1 Chopped Onion
5 Stalks of Chopped Celery
1 Chopped Green Pepper
4 Peeled and Chopped Carrots
2 Cans of Diced Tomatoes
1 Can of Tomato Sauce
1 Half Bag of Chopped Frozen Okra
2 Chopped Garlic Cloves or 1 Tbsp of minced garlic
1/2 Cup of Flour
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 Tbsp of Old Bay Seasoning
1 Tbsp of Poultry Season
2 Tsp of Smoked Paprika
1 Tbsp Cayenne Pepper
1 Tbsp of Garlic and Onion Powder
1 Tbsp of Crushed Red Pepper
2 Cups of Seafood Broth
1 Chicken Flavor Cube
2 tbsp of Oil
Prep:
Chop onion, celery, carrots, green pepper and garlic. Sit aside. Chop chicken into like size cubes and sit aside. Make sure to wash all items used with chicken to avoid cross-contamination. Season shrimp with the old bay and sit aside. Chop sausage and bacon. Sit aside.
Chef Notes:
If you decide to use the same sausage I did there is no need to sauté it first. You can just add it to the broth during that stage of cooking. However, if you use a smoked sausage like (andouille, hot links, smoked beef/pork/turkey sausage) you would want to cook with the chopped bacon to release its oils and smokey flavor .
Cook:
In a large pot sauté the chopped bacon and smoked paprika. Cook bacon until crispy. You can remove the bacon or keep it as I did. Add onions, salt, pepper, celery, carrots, and green pepper. After 5 minutes add garlic and cook for one more minute. Next add flour and stir until the flour starts to smell of pie crust. It will be a light brown. Then add the seafood broth a little at a time and stir.
Continue to add until all the seafood broth is gone. Then add the chicken, sausage, diced tomatoes, crushed red pepper, and tomato sauce. If you find that the broth is too thick just splash a little more seafood broth until you achieve your desired consistency. STOP and taste YOUR broth. Add more salt, pepper, or garlic powder until it is at your liking. Play it safe and add an 1/8 tsp at a time of each then taste. Allow this to simmer at a gentle bubbling for 10-15 minutes occasionally stirring.
After 15 minutes add the okra. Allow to cook gently for another 8 minutes. Lastly add the shrimp and crab. Cook shrimp for 5 minutes or until pink.
Serve:
Serve the gumbo over rice and eat with crackers. If you are anything like me add hot sauce for a little extra kick!
Happy Cooking!
xoxo
Chef J. Delawcious
Watch the full video here:
