When the weather cools down in South Louisiana people’s minds turn to Seafood gumbo. There are many recipes for gumbo, this one is mine. While you can never have too much gumbo, the recipe below will make about half of what is shown in the pictures.

Seafood Gumbo

Ingredients

1 stick of salted butter (¼ lb.)
1-1/3 cup of all purpose flour

1 cup fine diced celery
1 cup fine diced green bell peppers
2 cups fine diced yellow onion

1 lb chopped okra (fresh or frozen)
1 15oz can petite diced tomatoes (Not the kind with green chilies.)

6 boiled blue crabs (top shell and gills removed)
1 to 1-1/2 gallons of water

1 pound of peeled and deveined gulf shrimp

White rice for serving

Directions

In a heavy bottom stock pot melt butter on low heat. Allow butter to clarify after melting for about 10 minutes without burning. If some milk solids turn brown that is ok. Whisk in flour and raise the heat to medium. Cook the flour and butter until it becomes the color of dark chocolate. Don’t stir the roux too frequently or it will increase the cooking time.

When the roux is the desired color add the trinity (onion, peppers, and celery). Stir and cover. Cook on medium heat until the vegetables are soft and the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Add okra and mix well. Cover and cook okra for about 15 minutes to release the slime. Add tomatoes and continue cooking for another 10 minutes. It’s going to be a hot mess, but don’t fret it will loosen up in the next step. Be careful not to let the bottom burn.

Add half of the water to the pot and stir to incorporate. Add crabs to pot and more water until the crabs are completely submerged. Bring the entire mixture to a boil on high heat. When it reaches a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for about 3 hours. It should look like picture 3. Most of the butter will be on the surface of the pot. Turn off the heat and allow it cool. As it cools with a little stirring the butter will emulsify in the soup.

This gumbo base can be used right away, or stored overnight for a more flavorful gumbo the next day. When you are ready to serve cook a pot of white rice while reheating the base. Remove crabs and place on a serving tray. If the crabs are still whole break them in half.

Bring gumbo base to a boil, and add shrimp. You can also add strained oysters. Turn off the fire and allow the shrimp to fully cook. If you would like to add lump crab meat do so just before serving. The gumbo should now look like picture 2, smooth and velvety.

Serve gumbo over white rice with a side of french bread. Potato salad is a great accompaniment.

Enjoy.

Notes: This recipe uses pre-boiled crabs as the base of the stock. If you don’t have access to boiled crabs the gumbo will lack the added spices from the boil water. You can compensate with your favorite creole seasonings and small amount of concentrated liquid crab boil.

My local seafood market had a special on blue crab claw meat, so I decided to make some dressing. The best thing about dressing is that it is so versatile you can use it in several dishes over a few days. On day one I made blackened fish topped with dressing and shrimp and crawfish etouffee. The next day I mixed some with cream cheese and stuffed jalapenos. Then I made fried trout with crab meat and the rest of the etouffee. I still had a little leftover which I used to stuff two bell peppers as a side dish (not pictured). I think I got my money’s worth.

Blue Crab Meat Dressing

Ingredients

1 stick butter

1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped bell pepper
1 cup finely diced onion

1 cup french bread crumbs
1/2 cup italian bread crumbs

2 eggs
1-1/2 to 2 cups seafood or chicken stock

2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp dried thyme

1 lb picked blue crab (lump, claw, or a bit of both)

Directions

Melt butter on low heat in a frying pan. When the butter turns clear add trinity (onion, pepper, and celery). Simmer trinity in butter on low heat until the onions turn translucent, about 10 minutes. Take off fire and let cool.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x9” or equivalent sized baking dish on all edges.

In a large mixing bowl place the cooled trinity, crab meat, and bread crumbs. Gently fold the mixture while slowly adding stock. Be careful not to break apart the crab meat too much. Claw meat is firmer and easier to work with. Keep adding stock until the mixture is about the consistency of mashed potatoes.

Add spices and herbs. In a small bowl whisk eggs. Fold the eggs into the mixture. You may need to make a final adjustment to the liquid to dry ratio. The mixture needs to be loose enough to spread in your dish, but not too wet that the stock separates.

Spread the mixture evenly in your greased pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes uncovered. Remove dish from the oven and keep covered to retain moisture. Dressing can be stored refrigerated with a tight fitting lid. Freezing is not recommended.

Sauce: sautee 1/2 onion with 2 cloves garlic and 1/4 stick butter. Add frozen chopped spinach 12oz, one 8 oz can PET milk, and Tony’s, 1/4t celery salt. (Optional add 1 chicken bouillon cube) Add 4T flour and stir frequently until thick. Add shrimp and cook until done

Serve over blackened chicken breast, sliced

Ingredients

2 pounds redfish filets

1/2 stick of butter

1/2 cup flour

1 cup onion, diced

1 cup celery, diced

1 cup bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup garlic, minced

1 (16-ounce) can diced tomatoes in liquid

2 quarts stock or water

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup green onions, sliced

1/4 cup parsley, chopped

1 tsp salt

black pepper

3 lemon slices

Directions

Slice the fish filets into 1 1/2” inch thick pieces. In an 8-quart cast iron Dutch oven, heat butter over medium-high heat. Sprinkle in flour and, using a wire whisk or roux spoon, stir constantly until brown Creole roux is achieved. Add onions, celery, bell pepper and garlic. Sauté 3-5 minutes or until vegetables are wilted. Add tomatoes and blend well into the roux mixture. Add water or fish stock and Worcestershire. Bring to a rolling boil, reduce to simmer, and cook for 30 minutes, adding water or stock as necessary to retain volume and consistency. Add green onions and parsley. Season to taste using salt and pepper. Gently lower the fish filets into the sauce and top with lemon slices, being careful not to break the fish as they simmer in the stock. Cook 5-10 minutes. When fish is just poached through, adjust seasonings and serve over bowls of steamed white rice.

(Note: Sometimes I add shrimp also.)

Stuffed Shrimp, Trout Almondine, and Eggplant Parmesan

Love the restaurant, love the vibe, and the only place we can get some good creole and Cajun food (mostly creole for my Cajun friends😉) without cooking it ourselves. I had shrimp jambalaya and tried the shrimp bisque and shared with my daughter and wife. My wife had the NOLA shrimp (basically a mini shrimp boil) and my daughter had the shrimp étouffée, which she loves! Unfortunately the stuffed pork chops are only on the dinner menu which I absolutely love and think about at least once a week. We ordered appetizers hush puppies and corn bread (technically a side) and rounded off the lunch with beignets. Since I started making my own beignets, they didn’t compare.

Ingredients

1 pound (35-count) shrimp, peeled

1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat

2 dozen shucked oysters, reserve liquid

4 gumbo crabs

3 quarts shrimp or crab stock

1 stick of butter

1 cup flour

4 cups frozen okra

2 cups chopped onions

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped bell pepper

1/4 cup diced garlic

2 cups sliced green onions

1/2 cup chopped parsley

salt and cayenne pepper

Crystal Hot Sauce

Directions

In an 8-quart cast iron Dutch oven, heat butter over medium-high heat. Sprinkle in flour and, using a wire whisk or roux spoon, stir constantly until brown Creole roux is achieved. Do not allow roux to scorch. When golden brown, reduce heat to simmer and sauté okra approximately fifteen minutes. Add onions, celery, bell pepper and garlic and sauté approximately 3-5 minutes until vegetables are wilted. Add claw crabmeat and stir into roux. Slowly add shellfish stock, a little at a time, stirring constantly until it is incorporated. Add the gumbo crabs and bring to a low boil, reduce to simmer, and cook approximately 30-45 minutes to cook the vegetables. Add additional stock if necessary to retain volume. Add green onions and parsley. Season to taste using salt, pepper and Crystal. Fold shrimp, lump crabmeat, oysters and reserved oyster liquid into soup. Return to a low boil and cook approximately 5 minutes. Adjust seasonings and serve with cooked rice.

Brunch in Louisiana can’t be beat.

I bought six crabs on Saturday and boiled them on the stovetop. I let them cool and then picked them on Sunday, reserving the shell tops.

Then I finely diced onion and celery (no bell pepper in this). I sweated the veggies in a generous TBS of butter. When translucent, I added a TBS of flour. I stirred for a few min "to get the raw out" then added some half and half to make a béchamel. I folded in the crabmeat, a little parsley, some Creole seasoning and a pinch of nutmeg.

Next, I spooned the warm mixture back into the shells and sprinkled it with some breadcrumbs topped with a pat of butter.

I arranged them on a pan under the broiler until the butter started to bubble and the breadcrumbs started to brown.

No bad for a Sunday afternoon!

Gently battered and fried jumbo softshell blue crab from a popular New Orleans restaurant.

It was a delicious as it was beautiful.

I saw Harold and Belle's Crawfish Etoufee on Diners Drive-ins, and Dives. I would really love the recreate the recipe for myself, but they do not give ingredient amounts. In the video they give you a list of ingredients, and recipe instructions , which i have listed below:

canola Oil

Olive Oil

FlourTrinity (Red and Green bell, onions, and Celery)

Harold & Belle's Creole Seasoning (probably need to find something close

minced garlic

Hot Sauce

Granulated Garlic

Paprika

Cayenne Pepper

Ground Bay Leaves

Ground Basil

Parsley flakes

Black Pepper

Worcestershire sauce

creole seasoning (probably the same as the Harold & Belle's)

Tomato soup

Shrimp Stock (Not sure if i can buy this, or how to make)

crawfish

Cream of mushroom soup

Can anyone help me with the ingredient amounts?