SO, yesterday, I bit the bullet and bought the ingredients for seafood gumbo. Happily, I could get frozen wild-caught shrimp (Key West pink shrimp from Weis) but the crab...not so much in Maryland in February. And I was NOT going to buy canned crab. So I wound up buying king crab legs instead - I figure I'm at least still supporting the US economy.
This morning, I made the roux - in the oven! While making sure I still knew how to make gumbo, I found the oven roux technique on the Deep South Dish blog. Well, I am NEVER EVER NEVER making roux on the stovetop again. This was easy and amazing. I am SOLD. I had my roux, with enough left over to put in the fridge for more gumbo later.
While the roux was in the oven, I chopped the trinity of vegetables - onion, bell pepper, and celery. My college suite-mate was from New Orleans, and her mom taught me to chop those veggies small! I spent the rest of the morning picking crab and shelling shrimp. Honestly, I think king crab legs are even harder to pick than blue crabs. The shells went into a stockpot for broth, the seafood back into the fridge.
After a pick-me-up lunch of leftover pizza, I started the stock. I'd found some Cajun seasoning, so added that, water to cover, and let 'er rip for an hour or so.
About 4, I started heating up the strained stock, and cooking the vegetables, plus a little garlic, in the roux that I"d kept out. No measuring here - maybe a third of a cup of the roux? Added a bag of sliced okra to the mix, a few bay leaves, bits of oregano, thyme, and parsley (since somehow we don't have dried basil in the pantry). About 20 minutes before eating - about when I started the rice - I put in the shrimp; 10 minutes later the crab.
And yum. I love gumbo.
We have lunch for Fat Tuesday in the fridge, and three big containers in the freezer.
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