Sensational Shelly's Gumbo

DISCLAIMER: Please read everything here on my page with a grain of salt & know that I am hugely sarcastic.


This here is my wife's recipe for "authentic" gumbo. I say authentic, because her's has okra in it. According to the definition, it is not truly gumbo unless it contains okra. That's my story & I'm sticking to it. Plus, this is my blog, so my rules. I have always told anyone that will listen that " for everything, there is a right way, a wrong way, & Heath's way!"


I know this recipe may sound very time consuming, but trust me it is so worth the effort!

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First we started out with a dinner of boiled crawfish from our friends at Big Cab's Crawfish Cabin

Next, we created an awesome Instant Pot crawfish stock

Now, finally it's time for Sensational Shelly's Gumbo

Mise en place

Ingredients:
1 lbs boneless skinless chicken tenders
1 cup all-purpose flour
1.5 sticks of unsalted butter
1 cup celery, chopped 
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound andouille sausage, sliced
3 quarts IP crawfish stock*
salt & pepper to taste
4 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon Don's Seafood All Purpose Seasoning 
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons gumbo file powder
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
1 (16 ounce) packages frozen cut okra, thawed
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

Optional Accompaniments:
Rice
Ice Cold Mustard Potato Salad 
Hot Sauce

beginning the roux

Half way there

Ah ya, perfect!

My nifty knife skills

Adding the veggies

Adding the sausage

Adding the liquid

Adding the dry seasonings

Adding the chicken

Adding the okra

Adding the canned tomatoes

Give it a good stir

Leftover butter from Big Cab's

Fresh shrimp

Heating up the butter

Seasoning & sauteing the shrimp

Using the IP to make some rice

Finished rice from the IP

My lunch

Dinner for two

Directions:

1. Make IP crawfish stock *

2. Make a roux by whisking the flour and 3/4 cup butter 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.

3. 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. 

4. Add crawfish stock, and mix in all other ingredients but the shrimp & file powder. Simmer the soup over low heat for 1 hour; mix in 2 teaspoons of file gumbo powder at the 45-minute mark.

5. We learned an awesome trick from our friend Mrs Pam (who owns a great restaurant called Le' Pam's House of Creole) .... instead of cooking the shrimp along with everything else, what she does is she tops the gumbo with shrimp that has been sautéed in a little bit of butter, just before serving up the bowl of gumbo. Pure genius!!!