Recipe: Paleo Gluten-free Gumbo

Gumbo was a part of my childhood growing up in Texas near Louisiana. My mother used to make it all the time. Wow, do I love gumbo. This hearty paleo gumbo recipe is my mother’s recipe that I’ve enjoyed since a child. I’ve simply made minor changes to make it paleo and gluten-free.I never really liked rice in my gumbo so I don’t use the rice, but knock yourself out if you have to have rice.

The gumbo I grew up with has seafood – or whatever we had on hand. You can throw what you like in the pot! I have given you the seafood option as I can’t imagine gumbo without crab and shrimp, but chicken will do just fine depending upon your preference for your paleo gluten-free gumbo.

Serves 8 | Prep time 30 minutes | Cooking time 2 hours

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs peeled and deveined Shrimp
• 1 lb fish of your choice
• 1/2 lb  crab meat (optional) (Crab legs look neat in the gumbo for presentation)
• 2 lbs. smoked sausage (andouille is most authentic)
• 3 yellow onions
• 1 bell pepper
• 3 ribs celery
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 lbs. fresh okra (or 3 bags frozen okra), cut up
• 6 cloves garlic (add more if you love garlic breath)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 Tbs salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoons ground paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup coconut, tapioca or almond flour

Directions

1. Clean your shrimp.
2. Gumbo starts with a roux (In Loosiana, this is pronounced roo).
3. Heat ½ cup olive oil with ½ cup flour (tapioca, coconut or almond) in a big ‘ol pot until it is a deep golden brown. Do this slowly as the grain-free flours need slower heating than wheat!!! You’ll have to stir it constantly to keep it from caking up or burning. Rule one of gumbo is don’t walk away from your ROO!
4. Cut up your vegetables and sauté them in the roux (you may have to add a bit of oil) until they are softened. (They say melt the onions.) Do this for two to three minutes, but I usually take longer until they are no longer crisp. Don’t worry, they’ll cook more in the gumbo.
5. Add the sausage to the roux and veggies and heat for another 5 mins or so.
6. Add two ripe, fresh diced tomatoes.
7. I transfer the roux, veggies and sausage to a big stock pot.
8. Add 6 cups of chicken broth, tomato paste and then add your chosen seafood.
9. Bring to a boil and then set to simmer.
10. Put some oil in a skillet and dump the okra in, and cook it until all the slime is gone. Try to cook until it is almost dry if you can without burning it. You need to constantly turn it to get most of the liquid out. Some people object to the slimy effect if you put it in the gumbo without cooking it like this first. I personally like the slime.
11. Dump the okra in the pot.
12. Add your paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, thyme, oregano and bay leaf. Bay leaves give it such a great flavor!!
13. Simmer for a couple of hours. Some cook it for less time. I like to cook it down a bit until it’s soupy and thickened a bit.
14. Taste as you go, keeping an eye on the gumbo as it cooks and see if it needs salt or anything else. I like it hot and add Cajun seasoning like  Cajun’s Choice or some other that gives a little heat and flavor.
15. If you must have rice for your gumbo you can opt for a grain-free cauliflower rice by the Paleo Gods Nom Nom Paleo.