You might can tell by now that cajun food is one of my favorites and with Mardi Gras season coming up quickly, it just gives me more reason to whip up delicious creole and cajun recipes from our neighboring Louisiana!
This is a simple seafood gumbo recipe that uses fresh shrimp, lump crab meat and Andouille sausage. Andouille sausage is a garlicky, spicy smoked Cajun-style sausage of French origin, and makes a delicious addition to gumbos, jambalaya and soups!
One of my “secret ingredients” used in this recipe is a shrimp bouillon “caldo de cameron” by Knorr. I love the flavor it adds to this gumbo, it's wonderful! I usually find it in the Mexican food section of my grocery store, where you find Goya products and other Mexican specialties. You can order it online at my Amazon Store for $2.49. You may substitute chicken bouillon if you can't find it.
One more thing…you may certainly add cleaned crawfish tails to this and it would be delicious…I just didn't have them available at the time.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds shrimp peeled & deveined
- 2 pounds sausage sliced thick (used: Andouille)
- 8 ounces lump crab meat used: claw meat from ref. section in meat dept.
- 2 cups onions chopped
- 2 cups bell pepper chopped
- 2 cups celery chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 8- ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 stick butter
- ½ cup flour
- 64 ounces chicken broth
- 2 cubes shrimp bouillon used: Knorr
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
Instructions
- In a large soup pot, lightly brown the sausage. Strain from grease and set aside. Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the rendered drippings and add butter. Make a roux by melting the butter with the drippings over medium-low heat, then add the flour, stirring constantly until brown – peanut butter/copper color – do not burn (working over medium-low heat, it may take about 20 minutes or so to get the right color of roux, but it’s worth the time to develop the right flavor and not get a bitter, burned taste).
- Add the onions, celery and bell pepper and sauté until vegetables are soften or wilt. Add the garlic and sauté lightly. Add the white, black and cayenne pepper at this time. Stir often and scrape the pan bottom as needed. Add tomato sauce and simmer a few minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in ½ of the chicken broth and shrimp bouillon. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the salt, onion powder and thyme. Add the sausage and the remaining chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Right before serving, stir in the shrimp and crab meat and simmer about 5 minutes until shrimp are pink.
- Serve over hot cooked rice.
Made this over the weekend & even without the shrimp bouillon (which we couldn’t find locally) we loved it. What flavor!
That’s great, I’m so glad you enjoyed it…it’s one of my favorites!