Homemade Seafood Gumbo

I have had the wonderful life of traveling the US and experiencing the different types of food to be offered in their set regions. Growing up primarily in the south I ate a ton of seafood, not so much that I ever grew tired of it, but enough to know how it is supposed to be prepared and cooked. Gumbo is a great way to experience all types of seafood in one shot!

Ingredients for this Gumbo are:

1 lb. of King Crab meat (fresh if possible)
1 lb. of Scallops
1 lb. of Oysters
1 lb. of Jumbo Shrimp
2 lb. of Halibut
5 Red Potatoes
1 Blue Onion
1 cup fresh mushrooms
Salt
Pepper
Bays Seafood Seasoning

Gumbo is a great hands on project, if you have younger ones that don't know a lot about how seafood is prepared, or your having company over, this is a great way to get people involved with preparing this amazing dish.

This is a large meal so lets use the largest spaghetti pot you have available. You will need to add 1 gallon of water to that pot and put it on the burner at medium heat.

Next we will want to go ahead and peel the shrimp making sure to get off all of the shells and legs, take your time you don't want the shells to go into the pot with the rest of the great stuff we will be adding later!

Now peeling fresh shrimp does take a little bit of time, but your not done quite done with the shrimp yet. Take a sharp knife and slice down the middle of the back of the shrimp full length of the body, you will notice there is a brown or black looking string, using your knife or finger be sure to remove that, as that is the fecal matter and again we do not want to add that to our delicious meal. To avoid this whole process of course you can use frozen or pre-cooked shrimp, that part of cleaning of the shell fish is already completed, but my opinion is that you are not getting the quality of fresh.

Fresh scallops, Halibut, and King crab, what a treat when they are in season! Having lived near the Pacific Northwest coast for many years now I know that I am spoiled by the availability of fresh seafood, and stock up when I can. This recipe really demonstrates how seafood on the west coast can be used, and a good portion of this recipe's ingredients can only be found in the Pacific Northwest.

The scallops will already be prepared for you as far as the cleaning goes, so you should just go ahead add the shrimp you peeled and deveined and the scallops to the warming water on the stove top.

Take the halibut filet and slice that into twelve pieces and add that to the pot. These three ingredients are the base of this amazing meal.

Next however is taking care of the king crab, king crab always comes precooked unless you work on a crab boat and can get them that fresh. What I mean by taking care of the king crab you simply need to crack the shell and get to that precious savory meat and begin adding that to the pot as well until all the crab you have is in your gumbo fixings.

Now we are getting down to the final stages of preparation of this gumbo. You should have a few potatoes, mushrooms and an onion. Simply just chop the potatoes into even slices, doing the same with red onion just chop it into even chunks and it to the gumbo. Looking at the pot and what you have in there, the colors should be looking quite nice but its not quite perfect yet.

Need to add the last of the ingredients, and that's the part that really gives it the POW you want!

I prefer my Gumbo a little more on the spicy side so I always add any where from 3-4 table spoons of the Bay seasoning to season mine, and I will add a fresh jalapeno too. To season yours I would suggest adding 2 tablespoons of that Bays seasoning. You can find this in seafood section most of the time, but it can also be found in the spice section of your local grocery store.

Don't forget to add your mushrooms, these are already slice so just dump them into the pot, add your salt and pepper in accordance to your preferred taste, and then give that Gumbo a good stir.

Put the lid on keep it on medium heat and cook for 1 hour.

This meal took more time to prep than it did to cook it, not as long as Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner but just as satisfying. Anytime I have a gumbo I will usually make some homemade cheese garlic biscuits, and have a small side salad. A well balanced meal fit for any king.

Enjoy!