Seafood Gumbo

This is a really interesting recipe for a lighter version of a seafood gumbo. Typically, the base of a gumbo is the roux - a mixture of equal parts of fat and flour, typically in unhealthy quantities. The idea is that you coat the starch molecules in fat and cook the heck out of them until they begin to develop more complex flavors, typically to the point that you end up with a nutty richness and deep brown, or 'chocolate' roux. This is a time consuming and irritating process, but it's been established as the basis for a lot of southern cooking, and I can't argue with centuries of successful (and large) southern ladies. So I was intrigued when I discovered that this was going to be a fat-free roux; only the flour was going to be browned, sans butter, which seemed somewhat confusing. In the end, this worked out great, although it was no less irritating to stir flour in a dry pan for 12 minutes so it wouldn't burn.

Gumbo is traditionally made with crawfish or shrimp, some kind of meat, and commonly with okra as a thickening agent. If you haven't worked with okra before, it's a bizarre, slimy pod that's delicious when prepared right, and obnoxious when it's just boiled and served to you in a big bowl. I used some flash-frozen okra from the restaurant supply store, but if you can get fresh, go for it. Another ingredient you might see is filé powder (sassafras leaves), but we're not going there today. As the vegetable base, as opposed to the standard mirepoix of carrots, celery, and onions seen in a lot of northern European and American cooking, the gumbo uses the Louisiana variant of the trinity, which consists of bell peppers, celery, and onions.

My recipe used shrimp and a flat fish filet, in this case swai. The recipe called for snapper, but I was tipped off to a snapper shortage at the grocery store, so I went with the closest looking fish. I don't think there would be a huge difference in the final flavor regardless, and at least having the fish filet with the shrimp was a nice combination of textures.

For the inquisitive, I looked into the origins of this dish, and discovered that the recipe presented here is probably some kind of bastardization between the Cajun and Creole gumbo recipes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumbo), based on the inclusion of tomato, okra, and celery all together. I don't really care which one it was - it was delicious, hearty, a little spicy, and satisfying.

Gulf of Mexico Gumbo

Cooking Light, June 1997

Yield: 9 servings (serving size: 1 cup gumbo and 1/2 cup rice)

Prep Time: 1.5 hours

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup sliced okra
• 1 cup chopped tomato
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 4 (8-ounce) bottles clam juice
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 pound skinned red snapper or other firm white fish fillet, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
• 3/4 pound crayfish*, peeled (I used more shrimp)
• 1/4 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
• 4 1/2 cups hot cooked long-grain rice

*Note: One (8-ounce) container select oysters, undrained, can be substituted for crayfish, if desired.

Place flour in a 9-inch cast-iron skillet; cook over medium heat 20 minutes or until browned, stirring constantly with a whisk. (If flour browns too fast, remove it from heat, and stir until it cools down.) Remove from heat; set aside.

Go from this...

...to this. I probably could have gone darker, but there was some serious smoke coming up from the pan, and I wasn't prepared to hit the flash point of the flour dust, causing a wicked explosion in midair.

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic; sauté 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add okra and tomato; cover and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1 1/2 cups water, salt, cayenne, garlic powder, black pepper, clam juice, and bay leaves, and bring to a boil. Gradually add browned flour, stirring with a whisk. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

The okra. Slime not shown, but it's there, trust me. Those crazy Cajuns figured out how to use this slime as a thickener - way to find the silver lining.

Here's the trinity - onions, celery, and bell peppers

All of the vegetables, before adding in the liquids and roux

The gumbo, pre-fish addition. It was thick immediately after adding the roux (browned flour). Bear in mind that you won't see the full thickening potential until the mix has come to a full boil.

Add snapper; cook 5 minutes. Add green onions, crayfish, and shrimp; cook 10 minutes or until seafood is done. Stir in hot sauce; discard bay leaves. Serve gumbo over rice.

The swai filet, cut into bite-sized pieces for addition to the mix.

The finished gumbo, with some bread I tried to make. The presentation impressed my guests. The flavor floored us all.

Pumpkin Shrimp Bisque

From The Herbfarm Cookbook, by Jerry Traunfeld

Now that it's cold out, it's time to be excited about soup again.  And in honor of Halloween, I decided to buy and eviscerate a pumpkin.  I've been sitting on this recipe for a pumpkin shrimp bisque for probably 4 years, and finally got a chance to try it out.  Does it sound like a strange combination?  Maybe, but I believed in this recipe, and was not disappointed.  The finished product is almost more like a bouillabaisse with a mild pumpkin flavor, based on how the stock was made.  And fortune smiled on me to omit most of the sage because I couldn't find it fresh, which would have overpowered this strangely delicate soup.  But at the very least, invest in some saffron threads and make sure to include them.  Without that, the soup won't have the floral, earthy flavors you'd associate with a seafood soup, and you'll just get something bland.

It's optional to roast a pumpkin over buying the canned stuff, but I highly recommend fresh pumpkin in this soup.  You end up keeping much more of the pumpkin flavor, since it's minimally processed (you only cook the pumpkin for a few minutes in the soup after it's roasted).  If you're going to roast your own pumpkin, make sure to get the right kind.  You want what's called a "pie pumpkin", not just any old pumpkin that you carved up.   The bigger ones aren't as sweet, and will have a much higher starch-to-sugar ratio, making them more bland and stringy.  They also won't roast as well, since the sugars won't caramelize as fast.

Look for pie pumpkins.  They're about 8" or less in diameter, and are full of sugar.  Don't just roast any old pumpkin you happen to have.

I break this recipe into 3 stages, the first two of which you can do in parallel - roasting the pumpkin, making the shrimp stock, and finishing the soup.  The whole thing took about 2 hours, but could have been cut down to 75 minutes now that I understand this order.

Shrimp Stock

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 3 cups homemade or canned low-sodium chicken stock
• Pinch saffron threads (about 24)
• 2 ribs celery, coarsely chopped
• 1 medium onion (about 8 ounces), coarsely chopped
• 4 fresh bay laurel leaves, torn, or 2 dried
• 2 3-inch springs fresh sage

Soup

• 2 cups pumpkin purée, fresh (see first step) or canned
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• About 3/4 teaspoon salt, less if using canned stock
• Scant 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage
• 1 pound large shrimp (16 to 20)  

1. Pumpkin purée: Cut a sugar pumpkin in half and scrape out the seeds.  Place it cut side down in a baking dish and pour in about 1/4 inch of hot water (I didn't remember this, just put it on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and it still worked out fine).  Bake it in a 400°F oven until the flesh is tender, 40 to 50 minutes.  Turn the pumpkin halves cut side up to cool.  Scoop the pumpkin flesh from the skin and purée it in a food processor until smooth.  I don't have a food processor, so I broke out its historical cousin, the food mill.  The directions say to transfer the purée to a large sieve lined with a double layer of cheesecloth and let it drain for 2-3 hours until it is firm enough to hold its shape on a spoon; however, I just ran the pumpkin through the mill right into the soup.  You can substitute winter squash purée, such as butternut or acorn, for the pumpkin.

The roasted pie pumpkin (about 4 pounds total)

You can't just scoop this out and throw it in the soup - it's too stringy.  Use a processor, or...

...this awesome thing - a food mill.  Bet you don't have one!  In fact, I'm not sure why I have one either.

2. The shrimp stock.  Peel and devein the shrimp, reserving the shells.  Cover the shrimp and refrigerate.  Heat the olive oil in a medium (3-quart) heavy-bottomed saucepan over high heat.  Add the shrimp shells to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, until they turn deep orange and are just beginning to brown, 3 to 4 minutes.  This step - pan roasting the shells - gives the stock much of its flavor, so don't skip it.  The roasted shells should release a concentrated, toasty, shrimp aroma that will fill your kitchen.  Add the wine to the pan, first turning off gas flames to prevent the alcohol from igniting, then boil it over medium heat until all the liquid is evaporated.  Add the chicken stock, saffron, celery, onion, bay leaves, and sage.  Don't omit the saffron!  It makes all the difference in the world, and is probably the number one defining flavor in this soup.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to the lowest setting.  Partially cover the pan and simmer gently for 30 minutes.  Strain the stock through a fine sieve, pushing down on the solids with the back of a spoon to extract all the liquid.  Rinse out the saucepan and pour the stock back into it.

The prep station.  Note the course chop on the vegetables - you don't need to dice anything, just get it small enough to give off some love in the stockpot.

The shrimp, after shelling.  It looks like they molted - does this make you want to watch District 9?

Don't just throw the tails in the pot and pour in the liquid - brown them up a bit.  Roasting and developing flavors before boiling is what distinguishes a light broth from a hearty stock.  This was shortly before I added the wine.

This is saffron.  It is your friend.  It is also the most expensive spice on the planet.  A little goes a long way - this is all you need.

3. The soup.  This is the easy part!  Whisk the pumpkin, cream, salt (omit if using canned stock), and cayenne into the shrimp stock.  Bring the soup to a simmer, then cook very gently uncovered over low heat for 10 minutes.  Stir in the lemon juice, taste, and season with black pepper and more salt if needed. (The soup can be made up to this point up to 1 day ahead store covered in the refrigerator.  Keep the peeled shrimp in a resealable bag buried in a bowl of ice in the refrigerator.)

What you end up with after adding all the soup ingredients.  It's not bright orange or anything.

Finishing the soup: Pour the olive oil into a large sauté pan placed over medium heat.  When hot, add the reserved shrimp and sage (optional) and cook, tossing often, until the shrimp is just cooked through, pink, and no longer translucent, but not curled into a circle, 2 to 3 minutes.  They should still have a tender snap when you bite into them.  Arrange the shrimp in warmed serving bowls or a tureen.  Bring the soup back to a simmer and then ladle it over the shrimp.  Serve right away.

Sauté the shrimp in olive oil, with or without the sage.  I'm not sure what they meant by not letting them curl up, but I didn't overcook them.

The finished soup, with some shrimp sticking out.

Split Pea Soup (Vegetarian)

from Cooking Light, December 1999

Well, I haven't posted anything in a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking.  I need to be better about actually posting these things.  But recently I made some split pea soup that came out pretty good, so I thought I'd share it with everyone.  Granted, it's not as good as my version that has smoked ham in it, but for the vegetarians in the audience, this one's a runner up.  And as they say, hunger is the best sauce, so since I wasn't prepared to run to the store for ham hocks, this worked out quite well.  I lifted the recipe from Cooking Light, December 1999, and made only minor revisions.  What I think was interesting about the recipe, other than the opportunity to use my stick blender, was the 'gremolata' that you add to the soup as a garnish at the end.  And for the 99% of you who have no idea what that is, read on.

• 1 1/2 cups green split peas (I used yellow for a change of pace)
• 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1 cup diced carrot
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic cloves, divided (about 3 cloves)
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary, divided
• 1 teaspoon paprika (I used the smoked variety)
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
• 4 cups water
• 2 cups homemade vegetable stock or 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon salt (omit if you use particularly salty broth)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream

The prepared ingredients

Sort and wash peas; cover with water to 2 inches above peas, and set aside. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, and bay leaf; sauté 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add 2 teaspoons garlic, 1 teaspoon rosemary, paprika, and pepper; cook 3 minutes. Add tomato paste and soy sauce; cook until liquid evaporates, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.  Don't rush this step - make sure you get the moisture out to the point where you start seeing browning.  Of course, don't go too long, or you will burn the tomatoes and it will quickly turn from amazing to ruined.

Saute the vegetables and herbs with the tomato paste

You want the liquid to evaporate out, and end up with this almost sticky paste before you add the broth.  This is where the flavor really comes from - you're caramelizing the sugars in the tomato paste.  This awesomeness is called fond.

Drain peas.  Now you get to deglaze the pan with the liquid, freeing all of the awesome caramelized bits from the pan and dissolving them into the awesome soup base that will follow.  So add the water and stock, stirring to scrape the pan and lift that fond off the surface.  For the record, this works best with a hot pan and really cold liquid, and can be quite a violent addition if you aren't careful.  Then add the peas and salt (if you're adding salt) to the mixture, and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 1 hour, stirring often.  Don't worry about the peas breaking up, you're going to puree it anyway.  Discard the bay leaf after the soup is cooked - you don't want to blend that up.

The mixture, before simmering

The soup, mostly done but before pureeing

And now my favorite part of the recipe - the pureé step.  You CAN place the soup in a blender or food processor and process until smooth, working in batches to keep the blender from getting too full.  OR, you can break out your trusty stick blender and just have at it!  That's one of those tools you shouldn't own, and never get to use, but when you finally do it's awesome.  I mean come on, look at the picture!  That soup hit at least Mach 3.  Anyway, if you use a regular blender, make sure to cover it with a towel, because hot soup does not like being put in a narrow cylinder and agitated, and will definitely try to get back at you by spewing forth and burning off your arm skin.  However you do this, pour the pureéd soup into a bowl when you're done.

Yes!  Power tools introduced to cooking!  Whip out your stick blender and get in there.

To serve, combine 1 teaspoon oil, 1 teaspoon garlic, 2 teaspoons rosemary, and parsley.  This is basically a gremolata - an herb mixture added as a garnish, though traditionally it contains lemon zest and goes on meat.  Stir this parsley mixture into soup.  Spoon the soup into bowls, top each with sour cream, and serve!.

Herb gremolata, before adding to the soup

The final product, garnished and ready for presentation