Authored By: Amanda Unterreiner
We hope you’ve had a little extra time to prepare home-cooked meals lately, so once a month we’re sharing one of our teams’ family recipes and employee favorites with you.
You don’t have to live in Louisiana or Mississippi to enjoy delicious gumbo! Check out this recipe from Paul Myers.
“This is a recipe that I put together from my personal recipe but infused it with some touches from my mother-in-law’s incredible duck gumbo recipe. It’s just hard to find good, wild duck when you’re not in the Mississippi Delta!”
- Paul Myers, Chief Credit Officer
From our kitchen to yours:
Paul’s Gumbo
Ingredients:
- 2 cups oil/bacon fat
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 2 lbs. shrimp
- 1 lb. lump crabmeat
- 1 lb. Andouille sausage
- 2 cans/jars oysters
- 42 oz canned tomatoes
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 2 stalks celery
- 3 bell peppers
- 1 ½ lbs. okra
- ½ bunch parsley
- 3 onions
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 2 Tbsp paprika
- 3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tbsp black pepper
- 3 Tbsp salt
- Hot sauce (to taste)
- Cooked white rice and/or potato salad
- Chives, filé powder
- Crumbled bacon
Directions:
- Fry bacon (or cook in the oven) – about two full sheets in the oven will get 1 cup of bacon fat – supplement with vegetable oil to get to the 2 cups for the roux.
- Heat oil/bacon fat in a stockpot.
- Add flour.
- Stir flour/oil mixture continuously until chocolate brown to make a roux – over medium-low heat. This should take about 1 – 1 ½ hours.
- Add celery, peppers, okra, parsley, onions, garlic, and cook for about 15-20 minutes.
- Add tomatoes, chicken broth, sugar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, salt, and hot sauce – cook for another 1 – 2 hours.
- Add sausage and cook for another 20 minutes.
- Add crabmeat, shrimp, and oysters and cook for another 10 minutes.
- This mixture can be prepared a day or two ahead of time, stored in the fridge, and reheated.
- Prepare rice, potato salad, etc.
- Serve over rice or potato salad with good, white, crusty bread.
- Garnish with chives, filé powder, and bacon.
- This recipe makes a full 8 – 8-quart stockpot full. Probably serves 10 – 15 people.
Photo Credit: yatomo, 123rf.com