geek

Simple fish gumbo

simple fish stew

I may be caught in a rut, cooking-wise, but it is a tasty rut and I can’t help but blame it on the weather, work, and February. This is another spur-of-the-moment, what’s in the pantry, kind of dinner. After our weekend of feasting on pancakes, scones, pasta, and pizza (YIKES… when I write that out it actually scares me) we’ve gone back to a lower carb existence. The boy’s were counting on homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner but I knew that would be the wrong path for GH and I to take.

As I was digging some frozen cod out of the freezer I saw a bag of red, yellow, and green pepper strips from TJ’s and a bag of frozen okra. It seemed logical to put together a fish gumbo for me and the GH. It was easy to chop and assemble the gumbo as I made noodles for the boy’s soup. I timed it so they were both done at the same time and the only snafu was hunting down Dexter since he was outside playing in the snow. The boys sat down to steaming bowls of chicken noodle soup and GH and I were spared another carb massacre by dining on a delicious fish stew. No muss, no fuss, and everyone was happy.

Simple Fish Stew

2 pieces of cod, fresh or frozen, cut into chunks
1 large onion, diced
1/4 cup of diced ham, bacon, or smoked pork jowl
6 cloves of garlic, diced
2 ribs of celery, diced
1 cup of fresh or frozen bell pepper strips
1 cup of fresh or frozen okra
1 large can of roma tomatoes
8 ounces of chicken stock or water (if needed)
Tabasco Sauce to taste
Worchester Sauce to taste
2 teaspoon Gumbo Filé powder

If your using frozen fish get it out of the freezer now. Add to a 4 quart pan on medium heat the pork, celery, onion, and garlic. Allow this to cook until soft. Add the pepper strips, tomatoes and stock or other liquid if needed. Bring the heat back up and then add the Tabasco and Worchester sauces to taste. Check for salt. Add the okra and bring back up to heat. Cut the fish into chunks and add it to the pot. Bring it back up to heat. Once the fish is cooked through add the Gumbo Filé and stir well. Serve with some parsley on top.

printer-friendly version

February 27, 2007 | Filed Under beef, fish, poultry, pork, food, gratins, stews, and stir-frys, low carb, low cal, pork jowl, recipe, spicy 

comments

One Response to “Simple fish gumbo”

  1. Lydia on February 27th, 2007

    I’ve had really good luck with the frozen cod from Trader Joe’s — and I’m usually very picky about fish. These kinds of recipes are my favorites — raiding the pantry, fridge and freezer to make something that is more than the sum of its parts.

Leave a Reply