Creole Redfish Gumbo Recipes

CREOLE REDFISH GUMBO

Steps:

• Prepare the roux: In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high until it's just shy of smoking. Slowly shake the flour into the oil, whisking until smooth. Reduce the heat to medium and continue whisking until the roux is a deep dark brown, 20 to 30 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary to prevent burning.
• Using a wooden spoon, stir in the onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Cook another 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Stir in the stock. Bring to a boil and add the crabs (if using whole blue crabs), gumbo filé, bay leaves, salt, thyme, Worcestershire sauce and cayenne. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the flavors have melded, skimming off any foam or skin on the surface, about 1 hour.
• Toss the shrimp and fish with the Creole seasoning and stir into gumbo, along with the oysters and crab meat (if using). Simmer until the shrimp and fish are cooked, about 10 minutes. Add the hot sauce. Taste and season with more salt and hot sauce if necessary. Divide among soup bowls and top with rice and scallions.

GOOD NEW ORLEANS CREOLE GUMBO

Steps:

• Make a roux by whisking the flour and 3/4 cup bacon drippings together in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat to form a smooth mixture. Cook the roux, whisking constantly, until it turns a rich mahogany brown color. This can take 20 to 30 minutes; watch heat carefully and whisk constantly or roux will burn. Remove from heat; continue whisking until mixture stops cooking.
• Place the celery, onion, green bell pepper, and garlic into the work bowl of a food processor, and pulse until the vegetables are very finely chopped. Stir the vegetables into the roux, and mix in the sausage. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat, and cook until vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside.
• Bring the water and beef bouillon cubes to a boil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot. Stir until the bouillon cubes dissolve, and whisk the roux mixture into the boiling water. Reduce heat to a simmer, and mix in the sugar, salt, hot pepper sauce, Cajun seasoning, bay leaves, thyme, stewed tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Simmer the soup over low heat for 1 hour; mix in 2 teaspoons of file gumbo powder at the 45-minute mark.
• Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings in a skillet, and cook the okra with vinegar over medium heat for 15 minutes; remove okra with slotted spoon, and stir into the simmering gumbo. Mix in crabmeat, shrimp, and Worcestershire sauce, and simmer until flavors have blended, 45 more minutes. Just before serving, stir in 2 more teaspoons of file gumbo powder.

LOUISIANA CREOLE GUMBO RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients. Bring beef and chicken to room temperature before beginning the recipe.
• Make the stock. To a large sauce pan add chicken broth, shrimp shells, and outer crab shells (if using), cover, and set over medium-low heat. When it comes to a boil, adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Simmer covered for 20 minutes and keep on low until ready for use.
• Make the roux. Add oil to a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat and sprinkle in flour while whisking. Continue whisking until it turns a milk chocolate color, 16 to 18 minutes. Don't walk away during this step.
• When the roux is ready, add the Trinity (the onion, celery, and bell pepper), garlic, and Creole seasoning. Sauté until onions are translucent, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Strain the chicken-seafood stock. Discard the seafood shells.
• Deglaze the gumbo pot with with half of the stock. Add the can of whole tomatoes, crushing each by hand over the pot, plus its liquid.
• Add Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, thyme, and bay leaf. Bring it to a boil and reduce it to a simmer.
• Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Sear stew beef, in batches if needed, and move directly into the gumbo pot when done.
• In the same cast iron pan, sear the seasoned chicken thighs, skin-side down first, until golden on both sides, about 10 minutes total, moving them to the gumbo pot when done.
• In the same cast iron pan, add the okra to the rendered chicken fat, and season with salt and pepper and/or more Creole seasoning.
• Sauté okra until verdant and the viscous texture subsides, about 8 minutes. (This is known as "roping.") Add okra to the gumbo pot.
• Add remaining chicken-seafood stock to cover the ingredients. If the ingredients are not covered by the stock, add water.
• Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 30-45 minutes, giving a good stir and taste every 15 minutes. Season with more Creole seasoning, salt, hot sauce, Worchestershire sauce, black pepper as needed for your taste.
• Remove thyme stems and bay leaf. Gently remove chicken thighs from the gumbo pot to a cutting board. Remove bones and skin, cut into rough chunks and add the meat back into the gumbo pot. If the thighs have fallen apart, just remove the bones (the same number of thighs you added) and the skins you can easily find.
• On a cutting board, crack cooked and cleaned blue crabs in half. Then, with a mallet or the back of the blade of a chefs knife, gently crack both joints of the claws. (see RECIPE VARIATION with lump crab meat below)
• Add crab and shrimp to the gumbo pot, cover, and simmer for 6 to 8 minutes.
• Prepare a serving over cooked white rice, making sure each serving gets at least half of a crab. Garnish with scallions and hot sauce(s) for diners to spice to their taste.

MA HARPER'S CREOLE GUMBO

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place flour in a baking pan and bake, watching and stirring occasionally until flour is a nutty brown color. Sift to remove the lumps of flour.
• Saute chicken in oil in a large pot. Add sausage and cook until it begins to change color. Add onions, bell pepper and garlic and let cook until onion is clear. Add crabs and let cook until the crabs have changed color. Add thyme, cayenne, celery, bay leaves, green onions and flour and let mixture cook 5 minutes. Add stock and season with salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning. Cook for 45 minutes over medium heat, then stir in parsley. Serve over rice. Add gumbo file to each serving.

CREOLE REDFISH COURT-BOUILLON

Steps:

• Heat the 1/2 cup of the oil in a Dutch oven or large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the flour, reduce the heat to medium, and cook, stirring constantly with a large wooden spoon, to make a roux the color of peanut butter, about 15 minutes. Add the onions, bell peppers, and celery, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the garlic and bay leaves, and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Place the tomato paste in a small bowl and whisk in the sherry to blend. Add to the pot, and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the stock, whisking to blend. Add the tomatoes and their juices, the sugar, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, and cook, stirring, occasionally, for 20 to 25 minutes.
• Reduce the heat to low then whisk in the butter, bit by bit, until incorporated. Remove from the heat, taste, and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Preheat a grill to medium. To grill the fish, brush the fish all over with the olive oil and season the fish with the Essence. Grill the fish, basting occasionally with additional olive oil for about 8 minutes. Turn the fish and grill briefly on the second side. Return the court bouillon to the heat, add the fish, and simmer until just cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes longer. To serve, spoon 1/2 cup of rice into the center of six large soup bowls and divide the red fish court bouillon equally among them. Serve immediately, garnished with parsley or green onion.

JOAN FONTAINE'S CREOLE FISH GUMBO

Steps:

• Put the lobsters in 2 quarts of cold salted water in a large stockpot and bring to a boil for about 5 minutes. (The whole procedure should take 15 minutes.) Add the shrimp and cook for 4 minutes more. Take pot off burner. Remove the shrimp shells and lobster shells and heads and put them back into the pot with the water they were boiled in. Save the shellfish for later.
• Add the rest of the stock ingredients to the pot with the shells. Simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Strain the liquid through a sieve into a large bowl; then put stock back into the pot. Discard the shells and vegetables.
• To make the gumbo, fry the bacon. When done, crumble and leave it in the skillet with the fat. Add the remaining ingredients listed in gumbo Part 1 and saute until brown, about 7 minutes.
• Add the halibut and olive oil to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes, or until the fish is done. Add this mixture to the pot with the stock. Add the remaining ingredients from gumbo Part 2. Cover and simmer over low heat until well blended, about 1 hour. Can be served with rice.

QUICK & EASY CREOLE GUMBO

Steps:

• Season the chicken with salt, pepper and Creole seasoning and brown quickly. Brown the sausage, pour off fat and reserve meats.
• In a large, heavy pot, heat the oil and cook the flour in the oil over medium to high heat (depending on your roux-making skill), stirring constantly, until the roux reaches a dark reddish-brown color, almost the color of coffee or milk chocolate for a Cajun-style roux. If you want to save time, or prefer a more New Orleans-style roux, cook it to a medium, peanut-butter color, over lower heat if you're nervous about burning it.
• Add the vegetables and stir quickly. This cooks the vegetables and also stops the roux from cooking further. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes.
• Add the stock, seasonings, chicken and sausage. Bring to a boil, then cook for about one hour, skimming fat off the top as needed.
• Add shelled and deveined shrimp, the chopped scallion tops and parsley, and heat for 5 minutes. Serve over rice in large shallow bowls.
• Accompany with lots of hot, crispy French bread or serve in bread bowls.
• Make sure to have plenty of Tabasco sauce on hand to give it a kick.

CREOLE GUMBO

Steps:

• Cook onion and garlic in butter until onion is tender.
• Stir in flour.
• Cook, stirring constantly until flour is browned.
• Stir in the tomatoes, water, green pepper, bay leaves, oregano, thyme, salt and hot sauce.
• Bring to boil.
• Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
• Remove bay leaves.
• Stir in the okra.
• Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Stir shrimp and crab meat into okra mixture.
• Cook about 5 minutes longer or until heated through.
• Serve gumbo over hot rice.
• (Traditionally, rice is mounded in heated soup plates and the gumbo is spooned around it).