Yes, frozen vegetable gumbo. The bag of frozen vegetables says it's a gumbo mix, after all. Before anyone gets up in arms about how this ain't real gumbo and it's a disgrace to the gumbo tradition — think about people who are just working with what they have right now, people who don't have filé powder or fresh okra but do have canned and frozen vegetables. Many of us are in that weird cycle where it's getting where we need to go to the grocery store but man, maybe there's a way to stretch it out one more day? Whether it's having to wait on unemployment or stimulus checks, or hating having to wear a mask at the grocery store, there's a million reasons to want to put this chore off these days.
And believe me, I am feeling the same way. I wore a mask to the grocery store for the first time the other week and it was fine at first but after about 20 minutes of people-dodging in the aisles, I was getting overly warm and it was unpleasant to breathe. So when I was in checkout I was flinging stuff on the belt and was apparently grunting to where the cashier was like, "Yeah, those masks sure can be a pain after a while!" She was great and whipped those groceries through quickly for me, which I really appreciated. But even if it sucks, wear a mask unless it's suffocating you, as long as the government is recommending it (Hopefully you're reading this a year or more after the pandemic has ended and wearing masks everywhere is a distant memory!).
This is the frozen vegetable ix that inspired this recipe.
If you don't have this or a similar frozen gumbo vegetable mix, combine 4 cups of okra, corn kernels, celery, red peppers, onions. Or try adding carrots, green bell pepper, or green beans. You can use any combination of fresh or frozen here, so this makes for a great fridge cleaning meal! But you have to keep the okra, otherwise why even bother making gumbo?
Frozen Vegetable Gumbo
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup all purpose flour
- 1 16 oz. bag frozen gumbo vegetables* see note below
- 1 14.5 oz. can petite diced tomatoes
- 4 cups water
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp paprika
- cayenne pepper to taste, but start with ¼ tsp
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 cups cooked white rice
- Crystal's hot sauce to taste
Instructions
- Combine the flour and oil in a large pot. Turn the heat to high and immediately set a timer for 10 minutes. Begin stirring with a wooden spoon.
- Continue stirring for 10 minutes, do NOT walk away or stop. Stir gently, do not whip it around, as this mixture will get dangerously hot. If it darkens before the 10 minutes is up, turn the heat down to medium, or remove from heat. You may not need to cook it the entire 10 minutes, but look for a dark, chocolatey brown color to form.
- Once the roux is complete, turn off the heat for a moment. Gently pour in the frozen vegetables and can of tomatoes, Stir gently until combined with the roux, and then turn the heat back to medium. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the spices and water. Stir to combine.
- Once everything is combined, turn the heat to medium low and cover with a lid. Cook for 40 minutes.
- Make your rice at this point, using your favorite method.
- Salt and pepper to taste, add more cayenne if more heat is desired.
- Serve over rice with Crystal's hot sauce for more heat and flavor.
Notes
Making a Roux
Look, unless you grew up in a Lousiana kitchen, making a roux can be scary. This stuff is hotter than lava. This stuff gives you go to the hospital level burns. It'll burn the Jesus out of you. But it's okay to be a little scared. The directions say to basically burn oil and flour together for 10 whole minutes while swirling it around over really high heat.
The key is to follow your instincts. Mine started to get real dark around the 5 minute mark, so I turned the heat to medium, the hood vent fan on to maximum, and I took the whole roux off the heat 4 minutes early. This is likely because I used olive oil mixed in with avocado oil because I was running low on both. It's okay, it still turned out fine. This is why you can't sub out oils — lower smoke point ones will cause you nothing but problems. So stick with vegetable, peanut, or safflower oil and other high smoke point oils.
And whatever you do, STIR GENTLY and do NOT walk away from this during the roux stirring period. Eventually, the more you roux, the more confident you'll be, which is how those Louisiana chefs do it — through plenty of practice. After all, that's all cooking is!
Looking for more recipes inspired by the great state of Louisiana? Try alligator nuggets, beignets, and grilled cajun kebabs.
