The Ultimate Gumbo

One of the centrepieces of cajun cuisine is the gumbo, a dish incorporating seafood, chicken, spicy sausage, vegetables and all the delicious spices which enhance the food without swamping it, served with rice.

A famous New Orleans club called The Lamplighter closed in the 1980s but a few of its recipes survived and this is its celebrated Seafood and Sausage Gumbo.

Adapt it to local seafood (see the suggestions in brackets) according to seasonal catches and your own taste, but don't stint on quality. Good eating.

Lamplighter's Seafood and Sausage Gumbo

(Serves at least Four)

(NOTE: remember that US based recipes use a 10 oz cup)

4 capsicums, finely chopped
2 bunches spring onions, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
2 large brown onions, finely chopped
1 good handful parsley, chopped
500 g butter
2 kg hot smoked sausage, sliced thin (your favourite)
2 cups vegetable oil (grapeseed is good)
1 can peeled tomatoes (seasoned with jalapeno chilli if possible)
4 bay leaves
1.5 kg cut okra (if available, otherwise use zucchini)
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1 tbs black pepper
1 tbs cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tbs paprika
2 fresh chopped garlic cloves
2 small whole red chillies, seeded (optional, remove before serving)
1 tsp creole seasoning
1 tsp seasoned salt
1 tsp thyme (fresh is best)
5 litres chicken stock (stock cubes can be used, but you can't beat the real thing)
1 kg crabs, cleaned and broken up (substitute other seafood if you like)
2 kg prawns (small river prawns are perfect), peeled and cleaned
112 kg crabmeat (or scallops / squid / crayfish / mussels)

Method

The first operation with all gumbos is making the roux cooking flour in oil or butter until it turns nut-brown or darker. It provides flavour, colour and thickening and can be made in advance and kept in the freezer.

Combine 1 1/2 cups oil and 1 3/4 cups flour in a heavy bottomed pan over low heat and stir constantly until the flour thickens and turns light brown. Add more flour if needed to absorb the oil and make a smooth paste. It may take 20 minutes or so, but be careful - if the flour burns you'll ruin the taste. The darker the roux, the darker the gumbo. Set aside.

Saute capsicums, onions, garlic and parsley in butter. In another pan, saute sausage in 1/2 cup oil, then add to vegies along with tomatoes and bay leaves. Leave to simmer while sauteing okra (or zucchini) in 1/2 cup oil (use sausage pan), then add it, seasonings, chicken stock and crabs to the main pot. Add chillies if you want a hot gumbol but remember the sausage and tomatoes are hot. Simmer for about an hour.

When the gumbo is done, take it off the heat, add the roux and simmer slowly to thicken to desired consistency. Taste carefully, add the other seafood at the last minute, turn off the heat and let it cook with a lid on for another five minutes.

Serve by mounding rice in a dish and ladling the gumbo around it then accept the applause of your guests graciously.

Note: For everyday eating, you can give a fish dinner some zip by adding cajun spice mix , mostly cayenne, chilli, garlic and cumin (and widely available now) with flour when coating fish to fry.

Or cut some cross hatches on both sides, brush lightly with garlic and chilli sauce, allow to sit for a while, coat in flour and pan-fry. This works really well with leatherjackets and fish with similar sweet white flesh. In New Orleans the fish is fried quickly at extreme heat until blackened.