seafood

surf & turf gumbo

servings
8–10

method

This is my own expression of gumbo and it’s a bit like the people of New Orleans: gregarious and out there. I loved what Leah Chase said to me when we made gumbo together: ‘Dishing up a portion of gumbo is like going fishing . . . you get what you get.’

I used beautiful blue crabs for this dish, but you can use prepared crabmeat. Make sure you make a nice dark roux and get the ‘holy trinity’ base of onions, peppers and celery really going, and you can then substitute prawns with crayfish or fish, and use any other type of cured sausage you like. It’s the principle of the dish that counts, and swapping ingredients is just fine – in fact, that’s sort of the point!

If you’ve got shells on your prawns, peel them and keep the heads and shells aside for your stock. Heat a large pan over a medium to high heat and add a lug of olive oil and your sliced sausages. Let them get some nice colour. While that’s happening put a large stock pot on a high heat, add another lug of olive oil and fry any prawn heads and shells for about 5 minutes. Use a rolling pin to bash them up in the pot and release all their lovely flavours, then pour in your chicken stock, bring to the boil, and leave to simmer for 20 minutes.

Move your cooked sausages to a plate and add the flour to the fat left behind in the pan. Turn the heat down to low and stir. You want the roux to have a semi-loose, doughy consistency, so add a splash of olive oil if there isn’t a lot of fat. (You also want the roux to get really nice and dark, so have a bit of patience and keep stirring to stop it sticking. It might take around 10 minutes to get it to the right darkness. Peanut butter color is a good starting point, but you can take it even darker if you prefer by stirring and cooking it for another 20 to 30 minutes.) After about 2 minutes, add a splash more olive oil to the roux along with the holy trinity of onion, peppers and celery. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes, then scrunch up your bay leaves to help bring out their flavors and stir these into the trinity mixture with the thyme leaves. Fry for 5 minutes, then add your garlic, cayenne, Tabasco and the okra, which will act as a brilliant thickening agent. Give it all a good stir and fry for a couple of minutes.

At this point, add your stock. If you’ve got prawn shells in there, strain it through a large sieve. Stir and bring everything up to the boil. Add your crab claws, if using, and tinned tomatoes and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in your cooked sausages, peeled prawns and crabmeat, and leave on a medium heat to tick away for another 5 minutes.

Have a taste and add salt and pepper and a good squeeze of lemon juice if you think it needs it. Keep tasting and seasoning until it’s got some kick. Roughly chop the parsley and sprinkle into your gumbo. This is lovely served in bowls over some rice, but you can also put that wonderful big pot right in the middle of the table and let everyone go fishing. What a celebration!

Wine suggestion:
New Zealand red – a young Pinot Noir, served lightly chilled

Find out more about Jamie’s American Road Trip tv show and Jamie’s America Book

ingredients

• 16–20 raw king prawns, preferably shell on
• olive oil
• 500g spicy cured sausage, sliced into 1cm rounds
• 3 liters chicken stock, preferably organic
• 5 heaped tablespoons plain flour
• 1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 large green peppers, deseeded and finely chopped
• 3 stalks of celery, trimmed and finely chopped
• 5 fresh bay leaves
• a small bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• 8 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• 200g okra, sliced into rounds
• 300g picked crabmeat, plus 4 claws (if you can get hold of them)
• 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• juice of 1 lemon
• a small bunch of fresh curly parsley

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1. by John Coulson on Sun 25 Dec 2011 @ 11:31

The picture is wrong, this is a surf and turf GUMBO, it is one of the nicest meals I have ever tasted. I have cooked for family and friends and its great to put in the middle of the table and dive in. I have even got to cook it this Christmas in Spain as the Spanish side of the family love it so much (and they have managed to find Okra in Madrid, Yay)

2. by K. on Tue 06 Sep 2011 @ 00:38

WTF? Jamie did you say substitute?? "Surf and Turf" aka "Reef and Beef" does not consist of substitutes. filet or Rump Eye beef please, not a snag. And King Prawns only! I love your recipes and enthusiasm for food and it's flavours, however this reads like somebody else wrote it.<br />

3. by C. Benson on Thu 08 Oct 2009 @ 14:28

I tried diligently when I first moved to the UK to find stockists of many southern items (grits included!) but kept hitting dead ends. I'm sure you can buy it from http://www.zatarains.com/Products/Condiments-and-Sauces/Gumbo-File.aspx and pay for international delivery (which wouldn't be too much, as it doesn't weigh that much). And that size will last a while (you only use a couple of tsp's for a whole big pot of Gumbo/Red Beans and Rice/Creole Stew, etc.)... I go through one of this size in about a year? lol

Also, Tony Chachere makes the best overall Creole seasoning and they sell File as well at: http://shop.tonychachere.com/seasonings-c-8030.html

HTH! :)

4. by Kristian Holt on Sat 26 Sep 2009 @ 11:14

Anyone know of a stockest in the UK that stocks sassafrass?

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