Seafood Gumbo

This is my mom's recipe for gumbo. She was born in New Orleans, LA. This is a wonderful recipe. We have gumbo at every holiday meal because that was the tradition passed down in my mom's family. Unfortunately, measurements were never used, it is just thrown together. I don't measure either except for the butter and flour for the roux. So, the measurements listed are just estimates. This makes a large batch. Also, chicken can be substituted for all the seafood in this recipe for a batch of chicken gumbo. Another version I make is shrimp and chicken. For the batches made with chicken, I just use 5 or 6 uncooked boneless skinless chicken breasts cut up into bite size chunks.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

1/2 to 1 cup chopped green pepper

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped onion

1 to 2 tsp of dried garlic pieces, if using fresh garlic I use 3 or 4 cloves

1 to 2 bay leaves - I always use 2

3 to 5 teaspoons of Old Bay seasoning ( I just sprinkle it out of the can so I have never measured this, I just know when it looks right)

1/2 lb smoked sausage, cut into bite size pieces

8 cups chicken broth

2lbs peeled, uncooked shrimp

1lb crab meat( I get this at Sam's club in the meat department)

2 to 3 teaspoons of File (I buy Tony Chachere's Gumbo File in the spice aisle and I just sprinkle it in just before serving and have never measured this)

3 to 4 teaspoons of Kitchen Bouquet - this is for coloring and making the gumbo a more brown color.

1 - 2 teaspoons of cajun spice, optional( This is something I don't measure either and just sprinkle in just a bit, we don't like our gumbo too spicey but we do like to have just a tiny bit of spice.)

Cooked white rice

Melt butter in large stockpot and add flour. When roux is the color of peanut butter add green peppers, onions, celery, and garlic. Cook until soft, about 8 minutes. Add bay leaves, Old Bay seasoning, cajun spice and sausage. Cook until sausage for about 5 or so minutes, you just want to brown it a bit. Then slowly add chicken broth. Stir in kitchen bouquet until a nice brown color. You do not want to add too much as it will change the flavor of the gumbo so it is best to start out with a teaspoon or 2 and stir. If the color is still too light continue to add some kitchen bouquet but make sure to stir after each addition. Then add peeled, uncooked shrimp and crab to gumbo(or chicken if using instead of the seafood). Allow to simmer for 2 hours. Just before serving add the gumbo file. Serve over cooked white rice.