Gumbo..... Georgia Style!

Chef #864605's Note:

I love gumbo, but I have always hated that EVERYONE seems to put OLD BAY and or bay leaves in it. Both of which I cant stand the flavor of, too over powering and that is all you can taste. so I played with some receipes and this is what I came up with. I always make a big batch so, I share with my coworkers, family etc. I recently had a coworker tell me that his wife, a self named conneseure of all things creole, tell him that mine was the best she had ever had anywhere! I was so flattered that I thought I would share....

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 2 -3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion , diced
• 1 large celery rib , peeled and diced
• 8 ounces okra
• 1 smoked sausage , diced
• 1 rotisserie-cooked chicken , roasted (store bought rotisserie chicken works well)
• 2 (6 ounce) cans crab claw meat
• 2 lbs medium shrimp , peeled, deveined and roughly chopped
• ½ cup fresh cilantro , chopped
• ¼ cup dry rub seasonings (recipe above)
• ¼ cup flour
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 (14 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 (14 ounce) can beef broth
• 1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth
• fresh water

Directions:

1. In a heavy deep soup pot, heat olive oil on med/hi heat. Open 1 can of broth for standby, put onion and celery into oil stir until all are coated with oil. Let simmer, when they start to sweat and oil starts to dissipate add small amounts of broth to soften veggies, after 5 minutes add in Okra (USE CUT UP KIND). Add remainder of broth; bring to a boil for 10 minutes. With a measuring cup, scoop out ¼ cup (+/-) of broth and set aside. Add in remainder of ingredients EXCEPT Shrimp and Flour. Let simmer for about 20 minutes.
2. Mix ¼ cup of flour into reserved broth and mix until it is no longer lumpy. Mixture should be thick but still liquid. Pour into gumbo and simmer until okra is soft. Add shrimp, turn heat off, cover and let sit for 5 minutes, shrimp will cook in the heat of the gumbo.
3. Serve with rice.