Papa Richards Seafood Gumbo Recipes

PAPA'S SEAFOOD GUMBO

Steps:

• Make a roe with the oil and flour in a skillet. Add more of either flour or oil as necessary. It should be a medium dark brown, and a thin syrup. You should have approximately 3 cups of roe when finished.
• Add celery, garlic and onions to the roe and cook until translucent. Pour this into a very large 20 gallon stock pot.
• Add white wine, and approximately 1 gallon water. Add more as necessary, this is hard to measure but it should be about 2/3 water and 1/3 wine.
• In your original skillet, brown the sausage. Add this to the pot.
• Add seasonings to taste.
• Boil for 1-2 hours on medium high. When it starts to smell good, you know you are starting to get there. Start tasting at this point and add more seasonings as necessary.
• Add okra and oysters.
• Let cook for another 40 minutes or so.
• Add shrimp and crab.
• Let cook until shrimp is pink.
• Serve over white rice.

ROUX-BASED AUTHENTIC SEAFOOD GUMBO WITH OKRA

Steps:

• Put flour into a Dutch oven or large heavy pot and add flour. Turn heat to medium-high, put the pot on the burner, and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thick and bubbly, has a 'peanutty' smell, and is dark brown, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool and thicken.
• Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir celery, green onions, and bell pepper in hot butter until tender, about 10 minutes; add to pot with the roux.
• Stir water, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, 2 teaspoons salt, hot pepper sauce, and thyme into the vegetable mixture. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 1 hour.
• Stir okra into the vegetable mixture and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Add catfish, stir gently, and cook until the flesh is easily flaked with a fork, about 5 minutes. Gently stir shrimp into the mixture; cook until the shrimp are bright pink, about 3 minutes. Season with the file powder and salt; stir.