Why crying?  Because dicing 8 onions will definitely bring a tear to your eye.  Why Creole?  Because in my family, Cajun gumbo doesn’t have tomatoes and Creole does.

 

This gumbo has tomatoes, but it does not have a roux.  It’s delicious.   But don’t think that because you are not making a roux, you're going to get off easy.  Instead of a roux, you're going to spend 1½ to 2 hours browning a ton of onions to get a delicious base that gives the gumbo a wonderful flavor.  This recipe is time consuming, but it is time well spent.  You can use a food processor to chop the onions and make it a bit faster and easier if you'd like.

3 tbl	canola oil
8	medium onions, diced
1 cup	celery, diced
1	tomato, diced
3	bay leaves
2-2½ lbs	peeled shrimp (2 lbs will do but 2½ lbs is better.  Small shrimp don't look as good but you get one in every spoonful and they don't need to be deveined)
1 tsp	salt
½ tsp	freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp	thyme leaves, not ground thyme
4 cloves	garlic, minced
1 tbl	hot sauce, Louisiana, Franks, Texas Pete, or other milder hot sauce
5 cups	chicken stock
	cooked rice
	green onions, finely sliced for garnish

Turn the heat under a large Dutch oven to medium, add the canola oil and the onions.  Start stirring.  Keep this up for 1½ to 2 hours, making sure you scrape the bottom of the Dutch oven to get all the fond off of it.  Don’t walk away, don’t answer the phone, don’t do anything but stir.  If the onions start to stick, or if the fond starts to build up, add a little water to the Dutch oven as the onions cook.  The onions will cook down to about ⅕ of their original volume while they turn a beautiful brown and build up an incredible flavor.  Cook the onions until they are at least milk chocolate brown, but dark chocolate is better as the darker the onions the more flavor.  The picture below shows what 8 browned onions looks like after nearly two hours of cooking.

 

When the onions are finally chocolate brown, turn the heat to as low as the stove will go, and add the celery, tomato, and bay leaves.  Stir everything together, and put the cover on the Dutch oven.  Let this cook low and slow for 30 minutes.

 

While the onions, celery, and tomatoes cook.  Put the shrimp in a bowl and add the salt, black pepper, thyme, garlic, and hot sauce.  Stir this together and let it sit while the onions, celery, and tomato cook.

 

After the onions, celery, and tomato have cooked for 30 minutes, add the shrimp, stir well to combine, put the lid back on the Dutch oven, and cook for 10 minutes.

 

Now add the stock or water, bring the gumbo to a simmer, and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes.  Serve over cooked rice and garnished with green onions.

Home