Criminally Sexy Seafood Gumbo for Homegating

It is football season! That means loads of excitement and loads of delicious food. I am cooking up some very special treats for the times when we homegate. One of HIMself’s favorites is my Criminally Sexy Seafood Gumbo. It is beautiful too behold and hot, hot, hot to eat!!!

The Gumbo is on…

I start cooking early on game day; sometimes even the day before. The Seafood Gumbo goes into the Ninja Slow Cooker for that slow food flavor; and the Custard Tarts need to chill. And I love to cook Cajun with all that spicy, creamy goodness. Lush and rib-stickin’ and a little sexy…don’t you think? We love to invite friends over to share the fun!!!

Criminally Sexy Seafood Gumbo over CousCous

Don’t let the list of ingredients stop you from making my delicious version of gumbo. To save time, I buy some canned ingredients. Really, the prep time is just chopping the onions and garlic and sauteing them. The rest is magic in the Ninja Cooking System or Slow Cooker. NOTE: I usually use fresh seafood because I live in the shrimp capital, but I wanted to make this an easy and fast gumbo. You can substitute ANY fresh seafood if you like!

Ingredients

Olive Oil to coat saute pan 3 large green onions, sliced 5 cloves of garlic, diced 4 stalks celery, sliced medium 3 T butter 3 T all purpose flour 2 Cups Silk Soy Milk (Original) 1 Cup beer, plus 1/4 C to deglaze the saute pan 1 can chicken broth 2 T Worchestershire sauce 1 large can of tomatoes

1 t Liquid crab boil Tabasco sauce to taste Salt & pepper to taste Cayenne pepper to taste 1 t file powder 1 can of oysters, reserve oyster water 1 can crab meat, reserve crab water 1 can chicken 1 14 oz. bag 100-150 count frozen shrimp, thawed Pearl Cous Cous, cooked

The Roux: In Ninja, set to stovetop (high) and melt butter. Reduce heat to medium, slowly whisk in flour, stirring well to blend. Let this bubble for about five minutes, stirring often. This is the secret of a good roux. The flour has to become one with the butter. It should be a warm brown color. Whisk in the 2 cups of Silk. Stir until thickened about 5-7 minutes. It should be like gravy…no lumps. Stir in the wine, the broth and the oyster and crab water. Add Worchestershire sauce, spices, tomatoes and crab boil. Cover and let simmer while prepping onions and garlic. I will share the secrets of making the roux tomorrow.

Coat saute pan with olive oil and saute onions and garlic until soft. I like a lot of texture in my gumbo, so I slice the green onions. You can chop if you like though. Gumbo is about being creative. When soft, add 1/4 C beer to them to deglaze the pan. Add to the roux mixture. Cover and slow cook (medium) for 3 and a half hours.

Add seafood to the broth and cook for half an hour on high. You can cook on a lower temp if you want it to take longer. Serve with pearl cous cous and crusty French bread.