Karen's Seafood Gumbo

Total Time: 1 hr 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter or 3 tablespoons margarine
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 stalks celery, minced
• 5 tablespoons roux (*if not making your own, you can order pre-made from savoie's or kary's on-line)
• 3 quarts water
• 3 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 lbs fresh cleaned shrimp
• 1 (13 ounce) can crabmeat or 1 lb fresh crabmeat
• 1 lb crawfish (optional)
• 1 pint oyster
• salt
• creole seasoning (tony chachere's recommended)
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Recipe

• 1 melt butter in a large stock pot over medium heat.
• 2 add chopped vegetables and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
• 3 add roux and mix well. slowly add water, stirring well to break up any clumps. add bouillon.
• 4 bring to a slow boil on medium-high heat. reduce heat to medium and cook for 30 minutes.
• 5 season to taste. (karen uses salt and tony chachere's seasoning).
• 6 add tomatoes and all seafood and cook for 20 to 30 minutes.
• 7 add green onions and parsley and cook 10 minutes more.
• 8 served over cooked rice.
• 9 note: roux is a cooked mixture of wheat flour and fat, traditionally clarified butter. it is a thickening agent of three of the mother sauces of french cooking: sauce bechamel, sauce veloute and sauce espagnole. butter, vegetable oils, or lard are commonly used fats. it is used as a thickener for gravy, other sauces, soups and stews and is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight. a suggestion for making your own roux: use gumbo base (aka roux) (#47651).