John's Italian Gumbo

John's Italian-Southern Seafood Gumbo 

Get the stock cooking first in a pressure cooker

·         Fish carcass(This will give your gumbo a definite fishy taste. Leave out the carcass if you don’t want that)

·         2 quartered onion w/skin

·         4 cloves smashed garlic

·         1 Bunch parsley w/stems

·         2 stalks of celery w/leaves cut up coarsely

·         2 peeled carrots cut up coarsely

·         Shrimp heads from 2# of shrimp

·         16 black peppercorns

·         2 bay leaves

·         3 sprigs thyme

·         2 cups white wine

·         2 Quarts of water

While that’s cooking (maybe 30-45 min) prep the Gumbo

·         2 Chopped onions

·         ½ bunch chopped green onions

·         1 red pepper chopped

·         1 green pepper chopped

·         4 celery stalks chopped coarsely

·         2 cloves of garlic chopped

Make the roux

·         ¼ Cup flour to ¼ cup oil

·         Stir up. Microwave 1 min then stir.

·         Microwave and stir every 30 sec until as dark as you want (brown paper bag)

Gumbo Pot

·         Cook down 2 bags of okra in ¾ cup oil

·         When no longer stringy add the following, cooking a bit in between

·         Onions + 2 tsb salt

·         Peppers & Celery

·         Garlic

·         (2) 1#/12oz cans Cento tomatoes (cut a bit in the can and squash as you put them in by hand)

·         Strained stock

·         2 bay leaves

·         Leaves from 6 sprigs of thyme + handful of parsley + green onion

·         1 tsp sea salt + cracked pepper

·         ½ tsp crab boil

·         Roux

·         Seafood (1-2# Crab Meat, 2-3 # peeled shrimp)

·         Add extra seasoning as needed (s&p, hot sauce, etc)

·         Let simmer at least 30 min to an hour

·         Eat w/rice & potato salad. Use chicken bouillon in the water to boil the rice