Maw-Maw Olga's Seafood & Okra Gumbo

Gumbo comes from the African word gombo, referring to okra, a favorite vegetable of African tribes used as a thickening method for stews. The Choctaw Indians that came from a reservation on Bayou Lacombe, near Mandeville, Louisiana used ground sassafras leaves (filé) as a thickener for their stews instead of okra. Indian squaws would gather the leaves and spread them out on a stone mortar to dry. When thoroughly dried, they would pound them into a fine powder. Then the squaws would bring the filé to New Orleans to sell in the French Market. It was the Creoles who discovered the many uses of filé in cooking and originated the well-known dish “Gumbo Filé”.

I remember when mom would make seafood and okra gumbo for our Thursday night family get- together. Her gumbo with okra was the highlight of the meal. I learned how make her gumbo by watching her while I peeled shrimp and cut up seasoning.

One evening a friend of my brother wrote down mom’s gumbo recipe as she prepared it for one of our Thursday night dinners. Maw-Maw, as the grand kids called mom, never used measuring spoons only the palm of her hand. It was a pinch of this or a pinch of that with a little help from her iced down Dixie beer.

Maw-Maw Olga’s Seafood & Okra Gumbo

Making a quick Roux:

1 stick of butter

½ cup onions chopped

½ cup celery chopped

½ cup of green pepper chopped

1/2 tablespoon garlic minced

4 cups okra sliced

Melt butter and add above ingredients in a large pot that can be covered. Cook on medium low heat stirring constantly until the onions and celery are transparent.

8 cups of chicken stock

1 can tomatoes diced (do not drain)

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

½  lemon sliced in pieces

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon of sugar

½ cup shallots, chopped

½ cup parsley chopped

2 teaspoons of ground red pepper (spice to taste)

½ tablespoon lemon pepper (spice to taste)

2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 dozen boiled crabs peeled separate white meat from body and break claws into gumbo

2 Bay leaves

1 tablespoon of filé ** (Note: Only use filé if you don’t have Okra)

1. Make the Roux.
2. Add the first 10 (ten) ingredients above in the large pot and bring to a boil.
3. Simmer on low heat covered and stir occasionally for 30 minutes
4. Add crab meat and claws and cook 10 minutes
5. Add shrimp and cook for another 5 minutes
6. Remove from heat and add filé (Note: Only add filé if you don’t have Okra

Serve with white rice. Makes approximately 4 to 6 servings

TIP:

Substitute 2 cans of crab meat if boiled crabs are not available.

** Filé is crushed sassafras leaves used as a thickening agent