Seafood Gumbo Recipe

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Sometimes, I want to reward myself for a productive week with a dish that is challenging and oh, so-worth it. Just like anything good is! If you take your time with this gumbo, your creation will literally entrance you with rich harmonies of flavors.

Seafood Gumbo Recipe top shot

At first glance at that gorgeous pot of seafood gumbo, you’d probably figure that a tomato bouillon base was brothing up that seafood, right??

But there’s no tomato in authentic gumbo, and we’re making authentic gumbo.

That dark, almost red broth for this gumbo–what Rachel Ray would call a “stoup” –comes from making a low-and-slow-cooked dark roux and stirring seafood (or good chicken) stock into it.

What the heck is a roux?!? Well, a roux is what all gravies, stews, and some fancy French white sauces like bechamel begin with to thicken them. Your mom ever make biscuits and milk gravy with bacon or sausage ‘drippins’? Well, after butter or drippings, for virtually all gravies and stews, next you add flour and then hot or warmed liquids (to keep it from clumping) be it milk, broth, stock, wine, water, or a combo. Wine and stock work lovely in a lot of sauces and soups!  

In Fact, Roux is Gumbo’s Major Player

Low and slow cookery is what you’re going to be doing to make your roux for your mouth-watering seafood gumbo. And you’ll just bubble your stock and roux. With darker roux, you want to have the patience you put on for a really good risotto … a really good crème pâtissier, or a really good mole sauce.

That’s because, with this dish, you want to take your time to let the layers of deep, spicy flavors develop and for the rich, velvety texture to emerge. That is what creates a dark, perfectly cooked roux and—that-my friends and readers is the secret to making good stews and sauces: perfectly created textures and perfectly created flavors. Are you up for a very-well-worth it challenge?

If you like this recipe, I bet you’ll love my pork carnitas with heirloom tomato salsa.  And for leftovers I love pork carnitas salad with buttery Bibb and ranch—and it is yummmmm (if you don’t let your husband and hog-dogs wheedle you out of all leftovers like I do!!).

Ingredients

  • 1/4 pound large shrimp unpeeled
  • 1/4 pound white fish grouper or red snapper
  • 1/8 pound squid cut into pieces
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp Flour
  • 2 cups seafood stock
  • 1 Onion chopped
  • 1/2 Green bell pepper chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 Bay leaf
  • 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 tsp Cajun seasoning
  • Cooked white rice
  • Fresh chopped parsley
Seafood Gumbo Recipe top shot ingredients

Preparation Steps

Step 1: Heat the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat until melted, then stir in the flour. Stir until the flour is incorporated. Constantly stir the roux for 10 -15 minutes until it darkens to a brown color.

Seafood Gumbo Recipe steps top shot

Step 2: Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic. Cook the vegetables for 5 minutes until soft.

Seafood Gumbo Recipe steps top shot

Step 3: Stir in the seafood stock, cajun, cayenne pepper, bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce, and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to medium-low heat. Simmer for at least 90 minutes.

Seafood Gumbo Recipe steps top shot

Step 4: Add in the shrimp, fish, and squid for 5 minutes before ready to serve. Once the seafood is cooked, stir in the fresh parsley. Serve the seafood gumbo in bowls with rice and top with fresh chopped parsley. Enjoy!

Seafood Gumbo Recipe steps top shot

FAQs & Tips

How Can I Make My Gumbo Ahead and Store?

Having a dinner party and want to get the prep out of the way? Then chop your aromatics and put them all together: chopped garlic, pepper, and onion—you’re going to cook them all together anyway. Not so much on combining the seafood … One might get fishy, one mightn’t. Clean and shell your seafood the night before, and pack them in individual quart freezer bags to prevent leakage. Put all those dry spices in one, too. Now–you’re all prepped up and you can really have fun and grab, dump, cook!

You can keep your seafood gumbo three days. I’ve never had to. It was gone with the wind, believe you me.

How Do You Make the Perfect Gumbo Roux?

The secret to good gumbo roux is to let it brown until you smell a nutty flavor wafting about in the air. If you use butter, you’ll want to stir and brown that roux until it is a light caramel color. Bacon grease is good too. Drippins’ give you a darker roux from the dark meats that cook and impart flavor to them.
 
A light, flavorless oil like canola with your flour? That will work. You’ll get a slightly lighter roux, know that. So stop cooking it a bit earlier. With light oils with low smoking points like vegetable and canola oil, you’ll want to aim for a roux that is the color and consistency white, wet sand. Like they might have in the French Riviera. A dirtier reused oil?  A wetter, darker shade and feel of sand.  
 
But don’t let black flakes develop. There’s no come-back kind of development. But rather, try to stop this gentle roux cookery just shy of perfection and let that goddess called “after-cooking” do her duty.
 
Also, as soo as it’s done and while it’s still warm, start ladling hot broth/stock a ladle at a time, completely incorporating each one before you add more. Hot/warm broth + hot/warm roux = no flour lumps.
 
Only a tortoise can win this race. All good stews, soups, and s-things to eat like that come from low, slow, relaxed bubbling. Think sous vide over boiling.

How Do I Get/Make Seafood Stock?

Unless you were planning on this, it’s unlikely you have frozen bags of crustacean shells about you? Didn’t think so. But save those babies, every time you eat shellfish. With some wine, aromatics, water, and herbs, you’ll have the best seafood gumbo stock in the world to use as a base for all kinds of seafood cookery.
 
So have a seafood fajita feast, and save all lobster, shrimp, and crab shells. Freeze those babies—don’t boil any of their good stuff off either. Next time, it will be even better. We grow with every dish we cook, right?
 
Until then—If you want a luscious, collagen-packed broth full of flavor and healing constituents, then get you some chicken paws (that’s what they call them—chicken feet, really, and they come in big sacks. Chefs highly recommend them for the best stock. That cartilage equals collagen. And rich broth. Make a double broth for sick days and freeze these in round quart containers

Seafood Gumbo Recipe focused shot

Serving Suggestions

A cold craft beer or icy cold Sauv Blanc, this seafood gumbo steaming hot, and some pull-apart garlic-y dinner rolls and you’ve got yourself a FEAST.

Seafood Gumbo Recipe focused shot
Seafood Gumbo Recipe top shot

Seafood Gumbo Recipe

5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 4
Calories 260 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 pound large shrimp unpeeled
  • 1/2 pound white fish grouper or red snapper
  • 1/4 pound squid cut into pieces
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp Flour
  • 4 cups seafood stock
  • 2 Onion chopped
  • 1 Green bell pepper chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 Bay leaf
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning
  • Cooked white rice
  • Fresh chopped parsley

Instructions
 

  • Clean and rinse your fish and squid. Set aside.
  • Heat the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat until melted, then stir in the flour until incorporated. Constantly stir the roux for 10 -15 minutes until it darkens to a brown color.
  • Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic. Cook the vegetables for 5 minutes until soft.
  • Stir in the cajun, cayenne pepper, bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce, and salt. Stir well.
  • Slowly whisk in the seafood stock.
  • Add the fish and squid to the pot. Bring it to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes (the squid should be tender).
  • Add the shrimp last and cook until it turns pink, it should take 4-5 minutes. Check for seasoning and remove from heat.
  • Serve the seafood gumbo in bowls with rice and top with fresh chopped parsley. Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 260kcalCarbohydrates: 14gProtein: 30gFat: 9gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 181mgSodium: 1789mgPotassium: 685mgFiber: 2gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 639IUVitamin C: 31mgCalcium: 151mgIron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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