I’m of course behind on blogging. I made this delicious Gumbo a couple weeks ago and I’m just now getting around to posting it.  Just a side note if you make this for two, maybe freeze about half, and the rest should feed you for a couple meals.  The entire pot could easily feed 16 folks. My grandma (Gammy) makes this delicious homemade Gumbo and makes it seem so easy. Then she sent me the recipe….

My recipe is a little involved-you have to be patient to make a pot of gumbo.
It goes like this:

1. In a large heavy pot cook 6 or 8 slices of bacon-remove bacon and make a roux (very important)-by stirring in about a  half cup of flour or more- ( you want to have a very THICK sauce)… stir SLOWLY  with a WOODEN spoon over a medium heat until it turns dark brown. DON’T BURN… If there’s not enough bacon grease, you can add a couple drops of canola oil to create a thicker roux.
2. Add 2 chopped onions, celery and green onions. Blend all this together.
3. Add 2  cans of tomatoes, 4 or 5 cans Campbell’s beef consomme soup (not broth- went to 3 stores to find this), hand ful of chopped parsley,  2 cans of Trappey’s Creole Okra Gumbo (also went to 3 stores to find this) -this is much better than fresh okra-trust me. Simmer for at least an hour. Longer is better if you can.
4. You may want to add a little water (a soup can or so).
5. Add salt and a little gumbo file’.  (If you want it a little spicy add cayenne pepper)
6. Now for the goodies.     Add about 3 lbs. of shelled medium shrimp (any size works),  1 lb crab meat and claws if you like (bought this prepackaged at Whole Foods).  If you care for oysters you can add them now. You can also add any white fish diced. Gammy has added snapper (diced) before and it is good.
7. Simmer for at least 30 minutes more. Sprinkle with a little parsley and crumble the bacon you started with on top.
8. Serve over rice if desired.
9. ENJOY!!!!

Here are my favorite photos of the fun adventure. You can view the entire slide show below or go directly to Flickr to view them all.  My lovely coworkers gave us this beautiful yellow cast iron pot from Crate & Barrel. I love it!!

Most of the ingredients

Step 1- Making the roux (bacon grease + flour+ lots of stirring)

Step 3- Trappey's Creole Okra Gumbo

George smells something yummy cookin'

The finished product!