Creole Redfish Gumbo Recipes

MA HARPER'S CREOLE GUMBO

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place flour in a baking pan and bake, watching and stirring occasionally until flour is a nutty brown color. Sift to remove the lumps of flour.
• Saute chicken in oil in a large pot. Add sausage and cook until it begins to change color. Add onions, bell pepper and garlic and let cook until onion is clear. Add crabs and let cook until the crabs have changed color. Add thyme, cayenne, celery, bay leaves, green onions and flour and let mixture cook 5 minutes. Add stock and season with salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning. Cook for 45 minutes over medium heat, then stir in parsley. Serve over rice. Add gumbo file to each serving.

CREOLE REDFISH GUMBO

Steps:

• Prepare the roux: In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high until it's just shy of smoking. Slowly shake the flour into the oil, whisking until smooth. Reduce the heat to medium and continue whisking until the roux is a deep dark brown, 20 to 30 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary to prevent burning.
• Using a wooden spoon, stir in the onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Cook another 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Stir in the stock. Bring to a boil and add the crabs (if using whole blue crabs), gumbo filé, bay leaves, salt, thyme, Worcestershire sauce and cayenne. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the flavors have melded, skimming off any foam or skin on the surface, about 1 hour.
• Toss the shrimp and fish with the Creole seasoning and stir into gumbo, along with the oysters and crab meat (if using). Simmer until the shrimp and fish are cooked, about 10 minutes. Add the hot sauce. Taste and season with more salt and hot sauce if necessary. Divide among soup bowls and top with rice and scallions.

CREOLE REDFISH COURT-BOUILLON

Steps:

• Heat the 1/2 cup of the oil in a Dutch oven or large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the flour, reduce the heat to medium, and cook, stirring constantly with a large wooden spoon, to make a roux the color of peanut butter, about 15 minutes. Add the onions, bell peppers, and celery, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the garlic and bay leaves, and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Place the tomato paste in a small bowl and whisk in the sherry to blend. Add to the pot, and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the stock, whisking to blend. Add the tomatoes and their juices, the sugar, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, and cook, stirring, occasionally, for 20 to 25 minutes.
• Reduce the heat to low then whisk in the butter, bit by bit, until incorporated. Remove from the heat, taste, and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Preheat a grill to medium. To grill the fish, brush the fish all over with the olive oil and season the fish with the Essence. Grill the fish, basting occasionally with additional olive oil for about 8 minutes. Turn the fish and grill briefly on the second side. Return the court bouillon to the heat, add the fish, and simmer until just cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes longer. To serve, spoon 1/2 cup of rice into the center of six large soup bowls and divide the red fish court bouillon equally among them. Serve immediately, garnished with parsley or green onion.

CREOLE REDFISH GUMBO

Steps:

• Prepare the roux: In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high until it's just shy of smoking. Slowly shake the flour into the oil, whisking until smooth. Reduce the heat to medium and continue whisking until the roux is a deep dark brown, 20 to 30 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary to prevent burning.
• Using a wooden spoon, stir in the onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Cook another 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Stir in the stock. Bring to a boil and add the crabs (if using whole blue crabs), gumbo filé, bay leaves, salt, thyme, Worcestershire sauce and cayenne. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the flavors have melded, skimming off any foam or skin on the surface, about 1 hour.
• Toss the shrimp and fish with the Creole seasoning and stir into gumbo, along with the oysters and crab meat (if using). Simmer until the shrimp and fish are cooked, about 10 minutes. Add the hot sauce. Taste and season with more salt and hot sauce if necessary. Divide among soup bowls and top with rice and scallions.

JOAN FONTAINE'S CREOLE FISH GUMBO

Steps:

• Put the lobsters in 2 quarts of cold salted water in a large stockpot and bring to a boil for about 5 minutes. (The whole procedure should take 15 minutes.) Add the shrimp and cook for 4 minutes more. Take pot off burner. Remove the shrimp shells and lobster shells and heads and put them back into the pot with the water they were boiled in. Save the shellfish for later.
• Add the rest of the stock ingredients to the pot with the shells. Simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Strain the liquid through a sieve into a large bowl; then put stock back into the pot. Discard the shells and vegetables.
• To make the gumbo, fry the bacon. When done, crumble and leave it in the skillet with the fat. Add the remaining ingredients listed in gumbo Part 1 and saute until brown, about 7 minutes.
• Add the halibut and olive oil to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes, or until the fish is done. Add this mixture to the pot with the stock. Add the remaining ingredients from gumbo Part 2. Cover and simmer over low heat until well blended, about 1 hour. Can be served with rice.

GOOD NEW ORLEANS CREOLE GUMBO

Steps:

• Make a roux by whisking the flour and 3/4 cup bacon drippings together in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat to form a smooth mixture. Cook the roux, whisking constantly, until it turns a rich mahogany brown color. This can take 20 to 30 minutes; watch heat carefully and whisk constantly or roux will burn. Remove from heat; continue whisking until mixture stops cooking.
• Place the celery, onion, green bell pepper, and garlic into the work bowl of a food processor, and pulse until the vegetables are very finely chopped. Stir the vegetables into the roux, and mix in the sausage. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat, and cook until vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside.
• Bring the water and beef bouillon cubes to a boil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot. Stir until the bouillon cubes dissolve, and whisk the roux mixture into the boiling water. Reduce heat to a simmer, and mix in the sugar, salt, hot pepper sauce, Cajun seasoning, bay leaves, thyme, stewed tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Simmer the soup over low heat for 1 hour; mix in 2 teaspoons of file gumbo powder at the 45-minute mark.
• Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings in a skillet, and cook the okra with vinegar over medium heat for 15 minutes; remove okra with slotted spoon, and stir into the simmering gumbo. Mix in crabmeat, shrimp, and Worcestershire sauce, and simmer until flavors have blended, 45 more minutes. Just before serving, stir in 2 more teaspoons of file gumbo powder.