My family loves gumbo!

This stew is a melange of cultures combining culinary influences from African, French, Spanish, German, and Choctaw origins. Gumbo was first described in 1802, and was featured in various cookbooks in the latter half of the 19th century. The U.S. state of Louisiana lists Gumbo as the official state cuisine. Gumbo consists primarily of a strongly-flavored stock, a protien (usually meat and/or shellfish), thickeners (the roux, the okra and filé powder) and what Louisianians call the “seasonings” celery, bell peppers, and onions, but the rest of the world calls it the  "Holy Trinity" , when the popularity of chef Paul Prudhomme in the 1980s spurred further interest in the dish, calling the “seasonings” as so.

In New Orleans, there are as many different varieties of gumbo as there are people who make it. The preferred method in the historical New Orleans variation is with a French dark roux. Tomatoes are traditionally found in a Creole-style gumbo. Cajun-style gumbo is generally based on a dark roux and is made with shellfish or poultry.

My Grand taught me how to make gumbo from scratch and I recall the fond memories of the earthy soothing scents simmering on the stove for three hours or more when she made it. And the secret to a great gumbo is found in the roux.

Now, I know somebody out there is asking the question, “What is a roux?”

Well, a roux  (/ˈruː/) is made of flour and a fat cooked together and used to thicken  gravy, sauces, soups and stews. It provides the base for a dish, as other ingredients are added after the roux is completed. A simple recipe that takes technique, a roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight.The flour is added to the melted fat or oil on the stove top, and blended until smooth, and cooked to the desired level of brownness.

The fat can be anything from butter, to lard, to bacon drippings or schmaltz, (chicken fat) to an oil. The fat that is most often used in French cuisine is butter, where the roux is used in three of the five mother sauces of classical French cooking: béchamel sauce, velouté sauce, and espagnole sauce. In Creole and Cajun cuisine, the roux is made with bacon fat or oil instead of butter and cooked to a medium or dark brown color, which lends much richness of flavor, but generally makes it is generally thinner.

My Grand actually had four different recipes for roux in her head. One was a blonde roux that she used for her Étouffée dishes. The second was a red roux that was used to make her Red Beans and Rice, which was always served on Mondays. The third type of roux she would make was a brown roux that was used to make brown gravy for her beef dishes. And finally, her fourth was a chocolaty nutty dark brown roux that she would reserve for her gumbo.

To be perfectly honest, my Grand would be rolling in her grave if she knew I was using a box mix, but during these times in the age of the COVID-19 quarantine, but a girl has got to do what she has got to do….

Looking in my pantry, this is what I had on hand. A box of Zatarain’s Gumbo Mix and Rice and a canned stewed tomatos and okra, of the Margaret Holmes brand.

For those of you who struggle in making a roux, this is the perfect Zatarain’s product for you.

Zatarain’s Gumbo Mix with Rice is a flavorful foundation, making it easy to create classics like shrimp & okra or chicken & sausage gumbo – or to invent a new signature gumbo of your own! Gumbo is the quintessential dish of New Orleans, a city of diverse influences that formed a new culture greater than the sum of its parts. Those same influences are reflected in every bowl of gumbo. The dish is a rich and flavorful melting pot, just like its hometown.

Gumbo can be prepared with your choice of 1 lb. of cooked chicken, smoked sausage or seafood, cut into bite-size pieces.

To give the dish more substenance, a can of Margaret Holmes, Tomatoes & Okra. This product is packed with nutrients and flavor, that offers the perfect complement to the blend with the spices found in the Zatarain’s Gumbo Mix with Rice, giving you that perfect taste of the South.

And for the record, this gumbo box mix and canned stewed tomatoes and okra came pretty close to my Grand’s Chicken and Shrimp Gumbo.

Enjoy!

Serves 4 to 6

INGREDIENTS:

One 7-ounce box ZATARAIN'S® Gumbo Mix with Rice

One 14.5-ounce can MARGARET HOLMES® Tomatoes & Okra, reserve the liquid

1 cup frozen sliced okra

1 bay leaf

One 14.5-ounce can chicken broth

Water

1/2 pound chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 pound 16-count frozen shrimp, defrosted and peeled

For Garnish:

1/4 bunch fresh Italian flat leaf parsely, finely chopped

DIRECTIONS:

Add the reserved liquid from the Tomatoes and Okra and the chicken both to enough water to make 6 cups.

Add the liquid mixture to a 4-quart saucepance. Add the gumbo rice mix to the liquid mixture and stir until well blended.

Add the bay leaf.

Stir in the chicken and bring to boil.

Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 25 minutes or until the rice is tender.

Stir in the shrimp. Cover with a saucepan lid and simmer 3 to 5 minutes longer or until the shrimp are bright pink.

Remove bay leaf.

To serve, ladle the gumbo into shallow soup plates. Garnish with chopped parsely, if desired.

NOTES:

In this dish, do not discard the liquid from the stewed tomatoes and okra, add it to the water and the broth, to give the dish more body and more flavor. And remember, a Quarantine Kitchen is a Sustainable Kitchen!