This isn’t your typical roux-based chicken and sausage or dark, heavy game gumbos that you get in the fall and winter. Chef Jean-Paul considers this a summer or “warm-weather” seafood gumbo, as all the ingredients come into season around the same time and now is the time! If it grows together, it goes together.
Seafood Gumbo
Author: Jean-Paul Bourgeois
Makes 2 quarts
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 8 cups roughly chopped okra
- 2 pounds tasso, roughly chopped
- 4 cups small-diced Spanish onion
- ½ cup minced garlic
- 4 large tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped
- 2 cups small-diced red bell pepper
- 2 cups small-diced green bell pepper
- 2 cups small-diced celery
- 1 jalapeño, minced
- 20 cups Shrimp Stock
- 3 dried bay leaves
- Kosher salt, ground black pepper, and hot sauce, to taste
- 4 pounds peeled and deveined large fresh shrimp
- 1 cup sliced green onion
- Hot cooked rice, to serve
- Garnish: thinly sliced fresh okra
Instructions
- In a 16-quart stockpot over medium-high heat, add oil. When hot, add chopped okra and tasso; cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until okra begins to break down, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; cover and cook, occasionally scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon, until tasso is browned and okra has fallen apart, 15 to 25 minutes.
- Increase heat to medium-high; add Spanish onion and garlic, and cook, stirring constantly, until onion is browned, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Add tomato, bell peppers, celery, and jalapeño, and cook, scraping bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon, until softened, about 15 minutes.
- Increase heat to high, and add Shrimp Stock, bay leaves, and salt, black pepper, and hot sauce to taste. Bring to a simmer, and cook for about 1½ hours.
- Taste gumbo, and adjust seasoning as necessary. Add shrimp, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Turn off heat, and add green onion (reserving some for garnish, if desired). Divide among serving bowls. Serve with rice, and garnish with sliced okra, if desired.
Watch this dish come together on our YouTube channel where a new episode of “Louisiana Cookin’ with Chef Jean-Paul Bourgeois” is uploaded every Thursday!
