Seafood Gumbo

Last week I took a cooking class at Simplee Gourmet. In the class we learned some local Louisiana favorites - BBQ Shrimp, Seafood Gumbo, Chicken and Sausage Jambalya and Bread Pudding.

I was always too intimidated to try making these, knowing they would never taste like my Mom's and Grandma's.  I was surprised to see how easy they were to make!

So I decided to make a pot of gumbo for my family this past weekend.

One of the big things I learned in the class was to get EVERYTHING ready before you start cooking.  So I chopped up all my ingredients before I even turned on the stove.

Then I sauteed my okra to "rope" it - AKA to make it not snotty. I only did this for about 10 mintues, but next time I will continue to saute until all the "rope" is gone.

The next step was the most stressful, the Roux. Watching it done in the class, made it seem fairly easy, just keep stirring so it doesn't burn.

Within a few minutes it was at the Dark Chocolate stage and ready for the veggies, I don't have any pictures of this step because I was moving quickly so I wouldn't ruin the Roux.

Then I combined the roux and veggies with the homemade seafood stock (which I made from the shrimp peelings.)

I added the crabs and let the gumbo simmer for 40+ minutes.

Then 10 minutes before I was serving the gumbo, I added the peeled shrimp.

I served the gumbo with rice and french bread, and it was delicious.  It reminds me of my Grandma's gumbo.