Recipes from Louisiana - Gumbo by Mom

Gumbo! By Mom!

Louisiana Recipe for Gumbo

3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
3 tablespoons of flour
1 large chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
5 or 6 cloves, chopped garlic
1 can of chopped green pepper
1 can of tomato sauce
1 can of tomatoes ("Rotel" tomatoes for a spicier taste!)
1 pound, fresh slides okra (or 2 boxes of frozen sliced okra)
2 pounds of fresh shrimp
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
1 bay leaf

For sea food gumbo, add to above:
1 small can of crab meat or 3 fresh jumbo crabs
1 jar of fosters

Slowly stir the flour into heated oil in a heavy cast iron skillet.  Continue to stir until the flour is dark brown.  Add the next four ingredients; stir until onions are clear.

Add tomato sauce.  Stir until it gets crumbly or dry.  Fry okra in another skillet until it is no longer sticky or stringy.  Add tomatoes and fried okra.

Cook slowly, adding 2 to 3 cups of water - a little at the time.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Stir in one teaspoon of sugar.

Cook for about on a hour on a low fire, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking to the bottom of pot:  adding water if necessary.  Add the shrimp and a bay leaf (and if desired, the oysters and crabmeat).

Cook another 30 minutes to an hour adding seasoning to taste.

Serve over boiled or steamed rice.

This unused postcard is from 'The Postcard Factory'.