A little Cajun food porn for you

A couple nights ago, I needed to fix something that Cpl. Wolves and I could have for lunch at work. I decided gumbo would be good. As it turns out, I was right. My photo record here is incomplete, as I only decided at the last minute to make this a food porn post, but you'll get the general idea. First, bring out the ingredients. You will need 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil, f tablespoons of flour, 2 pounds of fresh okra (never mind) or 2 cans of okra, a large onion chopped, a bell pepper minced, 2 cans of tomatoes chopped or a quart of tomatoes from you garden that you canned last year, 2 stalks of chopped celery, a little parsely, a little thme, 1 tablespoon of basil, a little Worcestershire sauce, a little salt, a little pepper. You will want some sausage and a couple pounds of shrimp. This time, I used scallops, because I had some leftovers and some raw scallops in the freezer. It worked. You will also need 2 quarts of water. Yeah, not everything is pictured here:

Because I think you would be crazy to do otherwise, you also should have some Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning. I put it in every even vaguely Cajun dish I make -- gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice, whatever. Gotta have it.

So first, heat the oil in a large pan, then mix in the flour. Stir constantly as you bring it to a low boil:

Reduce the heat below a boil and continue stirring. Cook the roux, stirring constantly, until it achieves a rich, reddish color and is very thick:

Meanwhile, chop up your celery, bell pepper and onion and sautee those veggies in a pan with butter:

You will need meat. Slice your sausage and brown it nicely:

You also must sautee your scallops:

Seriously, there is going to be a lot of cooking going on at once. The sausage and scallops probably will happen consecutively in the same pan, but they will happen at the same time as the roux and the veggies. You will be busy.

When the roux is red and thick, slowly add the water, stirring it in thoroughly.

You will add the okra next. I did not have fresh or canned okra, but I had a couple cans of canned okra and tomatoes and a can of okra, tomatoes and corn. Probably not enough okra, but I was doing this on the fly. Anyway, at this point, having stirred in the water and thoroughly mixed it with the roux, add the fresh or canned okra and simmer for a few minutes. Then add the sauteed veggies:

Add your tomatoes -- a quart canned from your garden or two cans of diced tomatoes -- and a can of corn wouldn't hurt. Simmer a little while:

Gumbo should be thick. If you add enough okra, which is a thickener, and did your roux right, your gumbo should get thicker as it cooks. Cook your gumbo on low heat until it is thick, then serve over rice:

Bon appetit.