Seafood File Gumbo Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Shell and devein the shrimp, reserve the shells. Place the shrimp in a covered bowl and refrigerate. Place the shells on a cookie sheet, and bake until the shells are dried and starting to brown on the edges. Turn off the oven.
• Make the stock: In a 8 quart pot, put 5 quarts of water, 4 carrots, 4 onions, and celery. Add 2 bay leaves, sliced garlic, parsley, cloves, 1 teaspoons black pepper, 1 tablespoon dried basil and 2 teaspoons dried thyme. Add the shrimp shells. Bring the stock slowly to boil. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cook 5 to 7 hours, replacing water as needed, 2 or 3 times, by pouring more water down side of pot.
• Remove stock from heat and strain. Press all liquid from the shells and vegetables, then discard them. Return liquid to heat and reduce stock to 2 to 3 quarts, or to your desired quantity (you will need 7 cups of this stock for this recipe). If clarity is desired, strain the stock through a cloth.
• In a small bowl, combine the ground red, white, and black peppers, paprika, thyme, oregano, bay leaf and salt and set aside.
• In a heavy pot, 5-quart or larger, heat oil over medium heat, warming the pot first. Add onions, celery and green pepper. Turn heat to high. Stirring frequently, add garlic, file, hot pepper sauce, and the pepper-herb mixture. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add tomato sauce and stir as it reduces over high heat. Add 7 cups of the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
• When ready to serve, add shrimp, oysters, and crabmeat. Cover and wait 5 minutes. Turn off heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

Steps:

• Cook chicken if it's not already cooked. Leftovers work fine for this. Set aside.
• Place sausage in a large stockpot over medium high heat, and cook until lightly browned, and some oil is released. Set aside with chicken.
• Add 2 tbsp oil to pot, and saute onion, bell pepper, and celery until soft. Add garlic in the last few minutes. Set vegetables aside with chicken and sausage, wipe stockpot to remove any vegetable pieces.
• Add 1/4 cup oil to pot, and allow to heat over medium until it starts to "shimmer". Add flour, and cook, stirring constantly until the flour and oil mixture takes on a rich brown color. If I'm using sausage or ham, I like to do a chocolate colored roux, for seafood and poultry, I like a caramel color. Use your own judgment.
• When your roux is as you like it, add the chicken broth (You may sub seafood broth, or turkey stock, depending on your ingredients) stir constantly while adding broth to avoid lumps. You should have something resembling a thin gravy.
• Add meats and vegetables back to pot, add cajun seasoning. (I like Tony Chachere's, but you can use any kind you like. If this ingredient is not available in your area, several good ones have been posted to Zaar.).
• Simmer your gumbo for half an hour, or more if you like, keeping the heat low to avoid breaking the roux. This gives time for the flavors to mingle. If you're using a delicate shellfish, like shrimp, add it later in the simmer to avoid toughening it.
• When ready to serve, add hot sauce and filé, stir well, and ladle over a bowl of rice. Keep the filé, hot sauce, and Cajun seasoning out on the table, so diners may add more of any they like. This is wonderful accompanied by a loaf of crusty French bread and a crisp salad.

Steps:

• Combine the red, white, and black peppers, paprika, thyme, oregano, bay leaf, and salt; set aside.
• In a heavy pot, 5 quart or larger, heat oil over medium heat, warming the pot first. Add onions, celery, and green pepper. Turn heat to high. Stirring frequently, add garlic, file, hot sauce, and the pepper-herb mixture. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Add tomato sauce, and stir as it reduces over high heat. Add fish stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
• When ready to serve, add shrimp, oysters, and crabmeat. Cover, and wait 5 minutes. Turn off heat, and let stand for 10 minutes. Serve.

Steps:

• In a heavy Dutch oven, combine flour and oil until smooth. Cook over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir about 10 minutes more or until mixture is reddish brown. , Add the onion, celery, green pepper and green onions; cook and stir for 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth, water, okra, paprika, salt, oregano and pepper. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. , Add shrimp and parsley. Simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes more or until seafood is done. Remove from heat; stir in Cajun seasoning.

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large, heavy pan and add the flour.
• Cook, stirring, to make a medium-brown roux (the color of peanut butter).
• Add the onion, scallions, garlic and celery and cook until softened.
• Add the tomatoes with their juice, breaking them down with the side of a spoon, then add the tomato paste, parsley, thyme, bay leaf, allspice, cloves, salt, peppers, cayenne to taste, lemon juice and water.
• Bring to a boil, stirring well.
• Add half the crabmeat and the whole crabs or claws.
• Simmer for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
• If you like, you can scoop out allspice, cloves and bay leaf.
• Add the shrimp and the remaining crab and simmer for a further 15 minutes.
• Remove the pan from the heat and stir in enough file powder to thicken.
• Do not boil the gumbo after adding the file powder.
• Serve hot.
• NOTE*****Other seafood, such as purged crawfish, lobster and well scrubbed clams may be added to the gumbo, as available.
• Cooked seafood may be used, too.
• The finished gumbo will not have the richness of flavor given by crab cooked in it, but will still be delicious.
• Just heat cooked seafood through in the finished sauce.

Steps:

• Make the seafood gumbo stock: In a heavy-bottomed 5-quart pot, heat the canola oil over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the crabs and cook until the shells turn bright orange, 2-3 minutes. Add the shrimp shells and heads and cook until the shells turn pink, 2-3 minutes more. Smash the crab and shrimp shells, similar to mashing potatoes, to release any juices.
• Add the bell pepper, onion, and celery scraps, green onion, parsley, thyme, garlic, bay leaves, black pepper, and water. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 30-35 minutes.
• Strain the stock through a large fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. You should have 12 cups. Set aside until ready to use in the gumbo (if not using immediately, the stock can be cooled, then stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1-3 days).
• Make the Creole seasoning: In a small bowl, whisk together the salt, white pepper, black pepper, cayenne, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, and oregano until well combined.
• Make the gumbo: Heat 6 tablespoons canola oil in a heavy-bottomed 6-quart pot over medium-high heat until faint wisps of white smoke come off the oil (if thicker, darker smoke appears, remove the pot from the heat and let cool for 3 minutes). Add the okra and fry for 2 minutes, until army-green in color. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the okra to a paper towel-lined plate to drain, leaving any remaining oil behind in the pot.
• Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the same pot. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until faintly smoking again (do not let it overheat, or the flour will burn). Whisk in the flour to make a roux and cook, whisking constantly, until it turns a dark cocoa brown, 5-6 minutes. (If the roux is browning too quickly, remove the pot from the heat while continuing to stir and reduce the heat to medium-low.)
• Reduce the heat to medium, then add the onion, bell pepper, celery, and 2 tablespoons of the Creole seasoning. Cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes, until onions have softened. Add the garlic, bay leaves, and remaining Creole seasoning.
• Increase the heat to medium-high heat. While whisking or stirring constantly to prevent lumps from forming, add the seafood gumbo stock, 4 cups at a time. Add the okra, smoked sausage, crabs, thyme, and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 1 hour, skimming off any foamy flour residue that rises to the surface. The gumbo should thicken and reduce by one quarter.
• Season the gumbo with the salt and pepper to taste, then add the shrimp. Remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let the residual heat cook the shrimp for 10 minutes.
• Ladle the hot gumbo into bowls. Serve with rice and garnish with parsley, green onions, and filé powder, if using.
• It's important to properly cool and store leftover seafood gumbo, otherwise it will spoil. Fill a clean 2-liter bottle or plastic juice jug with water and freeze until solid. Once finished eating, place the ice bottle in the pot of gumbo and let cool, stirring occasionally to release heat. Transfer the gumbo to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 5 days. 11. The gumbo can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
• Enjoy!

Steps:

• Heat the roux in a medium-sized heavy stockpot over medium-high heat. When hot, add the onions, celery and bell pepper. Stir mixture until onions begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook for 1 minute. Slowly pour in stock, whisking constantly to prevent lumps from forming. Add the browned sausage, bay leaves, Worcestershire, hot sauce, cayenne, salt, and pepper.
• Bring gumbo to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer until gumbo is slightly reduced, about 50 minutes. (Gumbo should cook long enough for the roux flavor to mellow and for any floury taste to dissipate.)
• Season the shrimp with the Essence in a small bowl. Stir in the seasoned shrimp, crabmeat, green onions, parsley, thyme and basil. Cook until shrimp are cooked through, about 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary. Sprinkle in file powder and cook, stirring, 2 minutes more, or pass file at the table for guests to thicken as desired. Remove bay leaves before serving.
• Serve in warmed soup bowls over steamed white rice.
• Place a heavy, iron Dutch oven, (or iron skillet with deep sides) over medium heat and heat the oil until just smoking. Whisk in flour, a little at a time and cook, whisking constantly, until roux becomes smooth and thick. Continue to cook, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon and reaching all over bottom of pan, until roux darkens to desired color. Be careful not to produce specs of black. The roux must remain an even color throughout process. If specs appear you must start over.
• For a Light Brown Roux, cook the mixture, over medium heat for 1 1/2 hours, or until the color of peanut butter. Remove about 1 cup of the light colored roux, cool completely, and set aside for the Delmonico's Seafood Okra Gumbo.
• For a Medium Brown Roux, cook the mixture, over medium heat for an additional 30 minutes, or until the color of a copper penny when ready. Remove about 13/4 cups of the medium colored roux, cool completely, and set aside for Emeril's Country File Gumbo.
• For a Dark Brown Roux, cook the mixture an additional 35 to 45 minutes. The color should resemble dark chocolate when ready. Remove all of the remaining dark roux from the pan and cool completely. Set aside for the Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. (See Cook's Note)
• Combine all ingredients thoroughly.
• Recipe from "New New Orleans Cooking", by Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch, published by William and Morrow, 1993.

Steps:

• Heat the oil over high heat. Add chicken and brown evenly. Remove and place in warm oven to keep warm. Make the roux by adding the flour to the oil in the pot, stirring constantly until dark brown (milk chocolate) over low heat. When the roux reaches the right color, quickly add the sausage, onion, green pepper, shallots parsley and garlic. Continue cooking over low heat for 10 minutes more, stirring constantly. Add 1/4 cup water, the browned chicken, and all of the seasonings except the file powder and mix gently but thoroughly. Keeping the heat at low, gradually add the rest of the water and bring the gumbo to a boil, stirring gently. When it boils, reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 45 minutes or until the chicken is quite tender. Remove the chicken and some of the sausage slices with a slotted spoon to a deep bowl and reserve for a different meal. Add the shrimp and cook about 8 minutes. Remove the pot and let the simmer die down. Add the file powder and stir. Let the gumbo stand in the pot for about 5 minutes after adding the file, then serve over boiled rice.

Steps:

• Cook bacon in a 10-inch heavy skillet (preferably cast-iron) over medium heat until browned but not crisp. Transfer bacon to a bowl with a slotted spoon and transfer rendered fat to a heatproof liquid measure, then add enough oil to fat to bring total to 3/4 cup.
• Stir together fat and flour in skillet with a wooden spoon, then cook roux over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until well browned (a shade darker than peanut butter), about 20 minutes.
• Add celery, bell pepper, onion, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a 6- to 7-quart pot.
• Stir in stock, tomatoes, okra, thyme, bay leaf, cayenne, and 2 teaspoons salt and briskly simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are very tender, about 30 minutes.
• Add parsley, scallions, shrimp, and oysters with their liquor and cook, stirring, until seafood is just cooked through, about 5 minutes.
• Stir in crabmeat and bacon and simmer until heated through, about 1 minute. Season with salt. Discard bay leaf.