This is a hearty, spicy stew with European, African and Native-American influences, and is a bit different from a standard New Orleans, cajun gumbo. Gumbo is truly Creole in origin, but the Cajuns perfected it over time. This is a recipe that hearkens a bit further back to a more traditional Caribbean or Creole gumbo recipe.
Ingredients:
½ cup peanut oil
1 cup white, all-purpose flour
6 cups chicken broth
1 large yellow or white onion, finely chopped (see notes)
5 cloves fresh garlic, crushed/minced (see notes)
15 big pieces fresh okra, sliced (see notes)
1 green, bell pepper, finely diced/chopped (see notes)
2 ribs celery, finely diced/chopped (see notes)
12 – 14 ounces Carmelina or Cento brand canned Italian San Marzano tomatoes (with liquid), crushed by hand
12 ounces market-prepared smoked rotisserie chicken meat, diced (see notes)
12 ounces Usinger’s brand andouille sausage, sliced (see notes)
4 – 6 ounces Nueske’s ham steak, diced (see notes)
2 bay leaves
4 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped (see notes)
1 tablespoon smoky Spanish paprika
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon dried, ground thyme
1½ teaspoons of ground cayenne pepper
1½ teaspoons regular table salt
Tabasco pepper sauce, to taste
⅓ cup cooked, white rice per serving
Preparation:
Mix the oil and flour together really well in a 6 – quart pot on the stove. Turn heat to a medium-high setting (about a 7 on a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being the lowest temperature and 10 being the highest). Cook about 15 – 20 minutes until it is practically the color of chocolate pudding, stirring constantly and removing from heat as needed to prevent over-smoking (which means it’s burning). It will start to get loose when it is too dark – that indicates that the roux is losing its thickening power, and you don’t want that!
Next, add the onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic and the okra to the roux; mix well. Cook the resulting mixture over low heat, stirring occasionally so as not to burn it, until the onions are soft and translucent and the mixture is reduced down a little. I cover the pot and “sweat” the vegetables in the roux so that their moisture is rendered in the pot.
Add the tomatoes and their liquid gradually with the chicken/ham broth. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the rice); cover and simmer on very low heat (just so it “percolates” in the pot – you might have to cock the lid a little) at least 1 hour, but preferably up to 2½ hours, stirring occasionally.
Don’t forget to take out the bay leaves before serving!
Serve in wide-rimmed bowls topped with about a third-cup of cooked, white rice ladled in the center of it. We also traditionally sprinkle a little filé powder over the gumbo at the table.
Notes:
There’s a lot of chopping required by any gumbo recipe. The chopping is what takes the most time. I chop all the vegetables and meats the night before and store them in the fridge in big bowls covered with plastic wrap. The next day, I just have to make the roux, then I can just unwrap and add in everything to the gumbo pot.
After the core components are sautéed and softened up in your pot, you may add whatever other vegetables you like to your gumbo. This is a great way to use up left-over vegetables. Have fun and experiment a little!
If you want seafood in your gumbo (shrimp, oysters, crab meat), then add it in towards the end and cook for only about five minutes (until shrimp turn pink).
Okra seems to be optional for nearly every gumbo recipe that I’ve seen (and I’ve seen a lot). But there is evidence out there that the word gumbo is actually a West-African word meaning “okra.” Logic would then dictate that okra is not optional in gumbo, but is rather an integral component quite mandatory to making truly authentic gumbo. More support for the argument that truly authentic gumbo requires okra comes from the fact that preferred gumbo, made with really dark roux, needs okra as a thickening agent because cooking the roux until it’s really dark causes the roux to lose its thickening power.
Creole Gumbo Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup peanut oil
- 1 cup white all-purpose flour
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 large yellow or white onion finely chopped (see notes)
- 5 cloves fresh garlic crushed/minced (see notes)
- 15 big pieces fresh okra sliced (see notes)
- 1 green bell pepper, finely diced/chopped (see notes)
- 2 ribs celery finely diced/chopped (see notes)
- 12 – 14 ounces Carmelina or Cento brand canned Italian San Marzano tomatoes with liquid, crushed by hand
- 12 ounces market-prepared smoked rotisserie chicken meat diced (see notes)
- 12 ounces Usinger’s brand andouille sausage sliced (see notes)
- 4 – 6 ounces Nueske’s ham steak diced (see notes)
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped (see notes)
- 1 tablespoon smoky Spanish paprika
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon dried ground thyme
- 1½ teaspoons of ground cayenne pepper
- 1½ teaspoons regular table salt
- Tabasco pepper sauce to taste
- ⅓ cup cooked white rice per serving
Instructions
- Mix the oil and flour together really well in a 6 - quart pot on the stove. Turn heat to a medium-high setting (about a 7 on a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being the lowest temperature and 10 being the highest). Cook about 15 – 20 minutes until it is practically the color of chocolate pudding, stirring constantly and removing from heat as needed to prevent over-smoking (which means it’s burning). It will start to get loose when it is too dark – that indicates that the roux is losing its thickening power, and you don’t want that!
- Next, add the onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic and the okra to the roux; mix well. Cook the resulting mixture over low heat, stirring occasionally so as not to burn it, until the onions are soft and translucent and the mixture is reduced down a little. I cover the pot and "sweat" the vegetables in the roux so that their moisture is rendered in the pot.
- Add the tomatoes and their liquid gradually with the chicken/ham broth. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the rice); cover and simmer on very low heat (just so it “percolates” in the pot - you might have to cock the lid a little) at least 1 hour, but preferably up to 2½ hours, stirring occasionally.
- Don't forget to take out the bay leaves before serving!
- Serve in wide-rimmed bowls topped with about a third-cup of cooked, white rice ladled in the center of it. We also traditionally sprinkle a little filé powder over the gumbo at the table.
