gumbo

[Martha]

Anyone have a good but simple recipe for gumbo? Greg forgot his. We have the okra and he thinks he has the spice part down.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Gotcha covered Martha...this isnt 100% "authentic" but its good and easy. This recipe is for a lot, as I make it on football sundays, adjust as needed. Leave out or substitute any of the meat/seafood as needed to suit tastes...

Make the roux - this is the most important part. You can make this roux in bulk and freeze it if you want more spontaneous gumbo.

Saute 4-6 slices of bacon or bacon chunks or meaty salt pork or whatever have you along with a pound or two of andouille or other firm spicy sausage. Take out the bacon and sausage and leave the fat. Add one large chopped onion and cook until the onion is starting to become translucent, then lower heat and add 4 chopped cloves of garlic and stir occasionally for 5-10 minutes until browning starts. Remove onion and garlic and leave the drippings.

Add 1 1/2 cups flour slowly while stirring. If you dont have enough bacon fat left to make a paste, add butter until you do. Cook slowly, stirring often over low heat for up to 40 minutes until you have a nice dark brown roux. Color of beef gravy is about right. Put the bacon, sausage and garlic/onion mix back in to the roux and reheat.

While the roux is getting brown, in a large pot, boil 2 cups of water. Add salt to taste (teaspoon or two), 1/3 tsp crab boil seasoning (or to taste), 1/2 tsp thyme and a teaspoon of whole peppercorns. Add 1 1/2 lb chicken and long cooking seafood (uncooked crab, etc) and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes or until done. Add a cup of sliced okra and a 16 oz can of diced tomatoes to the pot.

Add a quarter to a half cup of the hot water from the pot to the roux slowly while stirring to loosen the roux. Scrape all of that back into the big pot with the water and chicken/crab and stir well.

Add 2lbs large cleaned shrimp and simmer until shrimp are almost done. Add a pint of raw oysters and simmer for just a minute or two.

Serve over rice.

 

[Martha]

Thanks TH, I figured you would have a recipe and was going to email you if I got no response.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I'm slow this week. Gabes started walking a few days ago and he has an amazing reach for his size, which means everything below four feet is now fair game. Lots of baby proofing going on. He still needs to grab stuff or put a hand on a wall every now and then to keep his balance, and his gait is probably similar to SG's after he's had those 15 "health drinks"...but he's getting there.

Speaking of which, anyone have any good ideas for keeping babies out of dog water dishes?

 

[brewer12345]

Speaking of which, anyone have any good ideas for keeping babies out of dog water dishes?

Nope, you're pretty much screwed on that one. Let me know if you figure anything out, but we just try to run interference.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

So far we leave it outside until gabe goes to bed. I tried a "spillproof" water bowl that I use for the car (the edges 'lip' over and into the bowl, preventing it from major spillage), but he loves splashing in water and gets his hands into it anyhow. Which wouldnt be so bad if Ted didnt leave huge protoplasmic globs of unearthly life forms in the water bowl.

Gumbo to dog water bowls. I had to make up for the limited amount of ridiculous thread hijackings I've missed out on.

 

[wabmester]

We kept the dog dishes in the mud room, which has a pocket door that could be opened wide enough for the pets to squirm through, but not quite wide enough for the kid to squirm through. Requires small pets, big baby, and a mud room with a pocket door, so I don't know if you'll be able to use this advice.

Back to gumbo -- when I was in high school, I cultured bacteria from my dog's water dish. Disgusting stuff!

 

[SteveR]

Try this page for more gumbo and other related recipes.

http://www.gumbopages.com/food/soups/index.html

 

[Nords]

So far we leave it outside until gabe goes to bed.  I tried a "spillproof" water bowl that I use for the car (the edges 'lip' over and into the bowl, preventing it from major spillage), but he loves splashing in water and gets his hands into it anyhow.  Which wouldnt be so bad if Ted didnt leave huge protoplasmic globs of unearthly life forms in the water bowl.

Did you try turning off the heater, the water jets, and the bubbles?  Just kidding.

I sure hope "Ted" is a dog.  Or at least not a human.

Consider the number of times that you've caught Gabe in the water bowl, and divide that out by your parenting-vigilance ratio to figure out how many times you haven't caught him.  Kids at this age have tremendous immune systems, although by now yours might have one stronger than anybody's.  I suspect that the protoplasmic globules issue (speaking of gumbo!) has already failed to cause any adverse effects to the kid, although it might make parents & relatives pretty queasy... 

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Oh I catch him every time he does it, as he's never out of my sight. First thing he heads for when he gets put down. His immune system IS pretty good so far...not a single cough or sniffle, no colds, nothing except some teething pain.

Ted IS in fact a dog.

 

[Martha]

Greg is cooking gumbo and life is good.