Shrimp and Crab Gumbo with Black-Eyed Peas and Collard Greens

You should know what's being cooked in the kitchen otherwise you might eat a forbidden food.
- African Proverb

Patience is not my strongest virtue.  I'm fiercely loyal, honest, creative, resourceful, compassionate, cool as a cucumber but I'm just a little, wee bit impatient at times.  Don't judge me.  With that said, I thought I'd jumpstart my Black History Month series a week early (Translation: I honestly tried, but I just can't wait ALL the way until next week.  After all, the elders did always say don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today.): Exploring the African Presence in Modern American Cuisine, where I'll highlight the presence of foods and techniques of African origin in modern American cuisine.  First on deck is okra.

Okra is my favorite vegetable.  My family planted the heat-loving vegetable in our garden every summer and it was a staple in our household.  Historians have identified the plant's origin as Africa, and evidence suggests that African slaves brought it to the United States by way of New Orleans.  According to agricultural experts at Alabama Cooperative Extension:

Okra "can be traced to the Nile basin in Egypt where Egyptians have cultivated it for centuries, according to accounts of the crop in the thirteenth century.  Okra spread through North Africa from the Nile basin and on to the eastern Mediterranean, Asia Minor, and India, spreading to the New World from Brazil and Dutch Guiana."*   

To recap, African slaves brought okra to the United States by way of New Orleans, and one of the primary uses for okra in New Orleans is gumbo.  Gumbo combines ingredients and cultural influences from the French, Spanish, Germans, Choctaws, and West Africans.  There's reason to believe gumbo's etymology and preparation may have respectively derived from traditional West African languages and West African native dishes.   For a detailed history of this Louisiana dish, visit the Gumbo Wikipedia page.  For now, let's have some pot stirring fun and do the gumbo!  It doesn't matter if you're young or old.  I'm gonna show you how it goes.  Stir to the right, to the right, to the right, to the right.  Stir to the left, to the left, to the left, to the left.  Now mix, now mix, now mix, now mix.  Now, stir it by yourself.  Now, stir it by yourself.  Who said you couldn't do a cooking remix to the Cupid Shuffle?  Most definitely not me.

For this gumbo, I used renown chef Donald Link's recipe for Shredded Pork Gumbo with Black-Eyed Peas and made the following substitutions:

1. One pound of shrimp & 1 pound of crab substituted for 1 1/2 pounds of pulled pork.  Seafood cooks rather quickly.  Do not add the shrimp and crab until the last few minutes of cooking; otherwise, it will turn rubbery and be inedible.
2. Whole wheat flour substituted for all purpose flour
3. One container of white button mushrooms (washed, sauteed in olive oil, set aside to cool, and then chopped) substituted for 4 pieces of bacon
4. Two pounds of okra instead of the 1 1/2 pounds of okra called for in the original recipe
5. I eliminated file powder from the seasoning mix since I don't like the taste of it.  Hence, more okra to thicken and flavor the gumbo since I love the taste of okra

* http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0959/

Sauteed Okra

For you to understand my love for okra, I must go back to the beginning.  All the way back to my childhood in Mississippi where okra was a standard crop in my family's vegetable garden and a staple in our diet.  Well, at least for my mom and me. I've never been much of a picky eater and my mom and I indulged in okra as a companion food for greens, purple hull & black-eyed peas, and cornbread.  I rounded out those meals with a little chow chow relish and a few slices of raw onions added to the mix.  To this very day, okra is my favorite vegetable.  Eating it, I can't help but feel nostalgic for the days of old.

A few years ago, I created this recipe for okra.  It's quite different from the lightly steamed okra I grew up on.  It's quick and easy.  The okra is slightly crunchy and the seasoning provides a surprising pop of flavor.  I once made this okra dish for a carb-loving friend who struggled to eat vegetables and she had two helpings of it.  The following week, she called me three times to let me know that she had made my okra recipe.

Sauteed Okra

Ingredients:

• 1 pat of butter
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 small jalapeno chile, thinly sliced
• I mess of okra (roughly 15 pods)
• Creole seasoning, to taste
• Garlic powder, to taste
• Fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced

Directions:

Wash, gently scrub, rinse, and clean the okra thoroughly.  Shake off excess water and set aside in a container.

Heat butter and olive in a large skillet over low heat.  Add jalapenos and okra pods to the skillet and cook about 2 minutes, thoroughly tossing the okra in the oil mixture.  Sprinkle the Creole seasoning, garlic powder, and cracked black pepper over the okra and continue cooking for another two to three minutes.  Then, added the minced garlic and cook another minute or two, being sure not to overcook the okra and garlic.  Garlic burns easily and when overcooked or cooked at too high a temperature, it will turn bitter.  

The final product should be coated in garlic and spice with a slight crunch.

Calamari and Catfish Stew with Plantains

Who doesn't like calamari?  It's actually one of my favorite seafoods.  As I sit here writing this post, I'm reminded of the year I spent in Chicago, when I became obsessed with the blackened calamari at Davis Fish Market - it's by far the best preparation I've had.  I'm talking whole pieces of calamari, covered in blackening spice and chargrilled to perfection.  It's one of those dishes so darn good that I can remember exactly the last time I had it.  It was the dead of winter and I met up with two friends from undergrad after a long day of work.  We sat on the left side of the dining room for drinks and appetizers, discussing all the exciting changes at hand - business ventures, job offers, and graduate school.  Good times!

I happened to have some calamari on hand this past week and it got me to thinking about the possibility of incorporating it into a hearty stew.  I did a little research and came up with this recipe.  I kind of built it around the calamari and the ingredients I had on hand.   Most of the technique is inspired by the American South, but the flavors are more reminiscent of West and North Africa.  This stew and the leftover blood orange sangria turned out to be the perfect antidote to the snow flurries and windy breezes hovering over Maryland these past few days.  

Calamari and Catfish Stew

Ingredients

1 large red onion, diced

4 red bell peppers, finely chopped

4 celery stalks, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely minced

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely minced

5 tablespoons olive oil

5 cups of vegetable stock

1 tablespoon of Cajun seasoning

1/2 pound dried chickpeas

3 cups chopped okra

2 large 28 oz-cans of whole tomatoes

1 pound of calamari

1 pound of catfish, cut into medium-sized chunks
1 sprig fresh thyme
salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
3 bay leaves

pearled couscous, prepared according to package instructions

Directions

Begin by soaking the dried chickpeas in 4 cups of hot water.  Boil for 2 minutes and set aside for an hour.  

Blend one can of tomatoes and chop about half the tomatoes from the second can.  Set aside.  Refrigerate and store remaining tomatoes.  In a large bowl, season catfish and calamari with Cajun seasoning and set aside.

In a large stockpot, cook the red onion, bell peppers, celery, garlic, and ginger in the olive oil for about 5 minutes on medium heat.  Add 2 cups of the vegetable stock to the pot and reduce the liquid by half.  Then, add the blended and chopped tomatoes, chopped okra, thyme, bay leaves, salt, pepper, and the remaining vegetable stock.  Stir.  Reduce to low heat and cook for about 1 hour 30 minutes.  Add the soaked chickpeas and cook for another 40 - 45 minutes.  Add catfish during the last 20 minutes of cooking, and the calamari should be added during the last 2 - 3 minutes of cooking.  Serve over pearled couscous with plantain pieces (see recipe below) on the side.  Enjoy!

Plantains

Ingredients

2 plantains

canola oil

Directions

Peel plantains and slice lengthwise.  Cut each half into 3-4 pieces.  Then, add about 1 inch of canola oil to a frying pan and heat to 350 degrees.  Fry plantains until golden brown, about 4-5 minutes.  Allow to drip dry on a plate covered with paper towels.