Dinner with Dad - Shrimp Gumbo

This tip brought to you by our Dad Guru John Valadez on Sep 04, 2009

Shrimp Gumbo is on the menu today. This is an intermediate meal so plan on cooking for a few hours. If you are not handy with the knife, your prep time is going to be a long time. Count on taking at least 2 hours cutting all the vegetable and preparing the shrimp for the gumbo. If you follow the recipe to the letter there is no reason your Shrimp Gumbo won’t taste authentic and almost as delicious as mine. The start of the NFL season is less than 9 days away and that only mean one thing – Shrimp Gumbo and football – perfect together.

Shrimp Gumbo
Ingredients

• 4 ounces vegetable oil


• 4 ounces all-purpose flour


• 1 1/2 pounds raw, whole, head-on medium-sized (31-50 count) shrimp


• 2 quarts water


• 1 cup diced onion


• 1/2 cup diced celery


• 1/2 cup diced green peppers


• 2 tablespoons minced garlic


• 1/2 cup peeled, seeded and chopped tomato


• 1 tablespoon kosher salt


• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped


• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper


• 2 bay leaves


• 1/2 pound andouille sausage, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and browned


• 1 tablespoon file powder

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the vegetable oil and flour into a 5 to 6-quart cast iron Dutch oven and whisk together to combine. Place on the middle shelf of the oven, uncovered, and bake for 1 1/2 hours, whisking 2 to 3 times throughout the cooking process.
While the roux is baking, de-head, peel and devein the shrimp. Place the shrimp in a bowl and set in the refrigerator. Place the heads and shells in a 4-quart saucepan along with the 2 quarts of water, set over high heat and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour or until the liquid has reduced to 1-quart. Remove from the heat and strain the liquid into a container, discarding the solids.
Once the roux is done, carefully remove it from the oven and set over medium-high heat. Gently add the onions, celery, green peppers and garlic and cook, moving constantly for 7 to 8 minutes or until the onions begin to turn translucent. Add the tomatoes, salt, black pepper, thyme, cayenne pepper, and bay leaves and stir to combine. Gradually add the shrimp broth while whisking continually. Decrease the heat to low, cover and cook for 35 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the shrimp and sausage and stir to combine. Add the file powder while stirring constantly. Cover and allow to sit for 10 minutes prior to serving. Serve over rice. Bon Appétit!
This is a recipe from a great chef and authentic Gumbo professional - Alton Brown
If you want to try more of Alton's Recipes go to www.foodnetwork.com/goodeats