Get the App

Recipes

Find a Recipe Blue Ribbon Recipes Pinch It!™ Feed Browse All Recipes

Editorial

Food Bites & Articles Videos What is a Blue Ribbon? Meet the Test Kitchen

Community

Member Recipes Groups Sweepstakes Contests Shopping

bayou land seafood gumbo file'

(1 rating)
Grammiedebbie02 avatar
Recipe by
Debora Hotard
@Grammiedebbie02
Georgiana, AL

There are so many ways to make gumbo, seafood, chicken and sausage, with or without okra, with or without a rue. Every area in bayou land has it's own way of making gumbo. Seafood Gumbo is just the best of all for me and my family. Fortuantely, we have a bounty of good Louisiana seafood from local waters right here in good old South East Louisiana. Nothing is better on a wet, cold winter day than a bowl of steaming hot Seafood Gumbo. The good thing about this recipe is that you can mix seafoods or omit something that you don't like. Just make sure that in the end you use 3 pounds of seafood. So, if your family doesn't like oysters for instance. Omit the oysters and double up on the shrimp or crabs, or a combination of the two. Have fun with it and make it your own. Also, for those of you who are not familiar with gumbo file' it is the dried and ground leaves of the sassafras tree.

(1 rating)
yield 8 serving(s)
prep time 45 Min
cook time 1 Hr 30 Min

Ingredients For bayou land seafood gumbo file'

  • 1 lb
    fresh shrimp, peeled and deviened
  • 1 lb
    lump crab meat or cracked crab claws or, gumbo ready whole crabs (personal preference)
  • 1 pt
    oysters, raw with juice
  • 2 lg
    onions, chopped
  • 1 lg
    green bell pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 c
    fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1/2 c
    fresh green onions with tops, chopped
  • 4 lg
    cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 c
    celery, chopped
  • 1 tsp
    red pepper flakes
  • 1 1/2 tsp
    salt and black pepper
  • 1 Tbsp
    gumbo file'
  • 1/4 c
    all purpose flour
  • 1/4 c
    vegetable oil
  • 3 md
    dried bay leaves
  • 4 qt
    seafood stock

How To Make bayou land seafood gumbo file'

  • 1
    In a heavy bottomed stock pot, stir together the flour and oil forming a rue. Cook the rue over a medium high heat, stirring constantly until the flower darkens to a deep cafe'au'lait color. Add onions and continue to cook until the edges of the onions begin to turn brown. Stir in celery, bell pepper, and garlic, continue to cook until mixture becomes a deep dark golden brown. Stir in 1 quart of the seafood stock and seasonings. Stir in Shrimp, allow it to begin to boil before adding in the remaining 3 quarts of seafood stock. Cook for 30 minutes over medium heat. ( If you are using raw, whole gumbo crabs you should add them in as soon as the mixture comes back to a boil after adding in the shrimp.)
  • 2
    Add in the oysters with their liquor and the crab meat, the parsley and green onions. Allow Gumbo to simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Sprinkle gumbo file' over the top of soup, stir into mixture gently. Serve over hot rice.
  • 3
    Note: Gumbo is usually served as a main course soup. I like to put 1/2 cup of rice into the bottom of a deep soup bowl, sprinkle the rice lightly with additional gumbo file'. Then ladle on about 1 1/2 cups of the broth, make sure to get some of all the seafood in each bowl. At my house, I always make potato salad to accompany gumbo, it just goes really well with it.
  • Last Step: Don't forget to share! Make all your friends drool by posting a picture of your finished recipe on your favorite social network. And don't forget to tag Just A Pinch and include #justapinchrecipes so we can see it too!
ADVERTISEMENT