Gumbo z’Herbes with Fried Oysters

The first time I made gumbo, I remember wondering if there was such thing as a vegetarian version. Years later I learned that, yes, there is actually a tradition of a vegetarian gumbo. It’s called Gumbo z’Herbes or Green Gumbo. It’s less common than meat- and seafood-filled gumbos, but it came about as a type of gumbo to serve during Lent or specifically on Good Friday. I’d been thinking about making this while local greens are in season, and I finally did it, fittingly during Lent. This is more of a soup than thicker gumbos, and it’s filled with whatever greens you have on hand, herbs, green onions, and in this case, chopped turnips. The recipe I followed is from Crescent City Cooking by Susan Spicer, and every time I use this book I find more dishes from it that I need to try. I liked that she gilded the dish a bit with the addition of fried oysters. And, why not? You wouldn’t want to serve a gumbo that’s entirely virtuous, right? Naturally, it starts with the trinity of vegetables which includes onion, celery, and green bell peppers. And, this is where things get scandalous. I prefer just about any other possible color of bell pepper to green. Here, I used a mix of green and orange, and I don’t feel too guilty about it. Chef John Besh recommends red bell pepper for his etouffee; so I’m not alone in this. Now, for the turnips, I was hoping it wasn’t too late in the season to find some at the farmers’ market, and luck was on my side. At our Wednesday market, I found the cutest, little white, Japanese turnips grown by Animal Farm. The flavor is mild and lovely, and they were perfect for the gumbo. 

Although this is a Lenten, vegetable-based kind of gumbo, the recipe does call for chicken stock. I made some vegetable stock to use instead. To begin, you need to make a roux in a wide, heavy pan like a Dutch oven, and making roux is one of those cooking-related tasks that I really enjoy. I love watching the color slowly transform from beige to brown while stirring and stirring. For this recipe, the roux was taken to a peanut butter color. At that point, the trinity of finely chopped onion, celery, and bell pepper was added. Next, finely chopped garlic, those lovely little chopped turnips, and some chopped green onions were added and allowed to cook for about five minutes. For the greens, I used washed and torn kale leaves and spinach leaves along with the leaves from the turnips. All the greens nearly overflowed from the pan, but they cook down in no time. Once the greens were wilted, thyme leaves and file powder were added followed by the vegetable stock. The stock was added slowly, brought to a boil, and reduced to a simmer. A bouquet garni of parsley stems, a bay leaf, and thyme sprigs was added to the stock, and it was left to cook for an hour. If you’re making the fried oysters, the oyster liquor can be added, and Worcestershire sauce is suggested for seasoning as well. To make the oysters, they were first dusted with cornmeal and then quickly fried just until golden. The oysters I brought home for this were tiny, so they only cooked in the hot oil for about two minutes. The gumbo was served with white rice, the fried oysters, some extra chopped green onions, and hot sauce on the side. 

I now know that regardless of the main ingredient in a gumbo, it’s always a fun and delicious dish. The trinity cooked in a brown roux never fails, and I never get enough of liberally dousing a gumbo with Crystal hot sauce. The greens and turnips cooked to a completely tender state and took on the flavors of the herbs and aromatics. I still love a good seafood gumbo, but I think this vegetable version, with or without the oysters, deserves more attention than it gets. 

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program.

Big City Salmon with Martini Sauce

We were in the mood for a light-ish kind of meal involving fish and some salad, and I found some fresh and fabulous king salmon at Whole Foods. I could have simply seared and roasted it and left it at that, but then what are all those cookbooks doing here anyway? I found an interesting sauce to try in Crescent City Cooking by Susan Spicer. In introducing the recipe in the book, she explains that years ago she created a menu of regionally-themed dishes for a Fourth of July dinner. To represent Manhattan in that menu, she developed a martini sauce with olives for salmon. That sounded like a sauce worth trying. For a side dish, I tried the zucchini and fennel slaw from the July issue of Gourmet, and that recipe is on Epicurious.

The salmon could have been grilled, roasted, or even poached, but I did my usual quick sear in a saute pan, turn, and place in a 400 F degree oven for a few minute to cook not quite all the way through. The sauce was started by reducing gin and vermouth with chopped shallots and juniper berries. Once reduced to about three tablespoons, cream was added, and that was reduced again. It was then strained into a bowl and poured back into a saucepan so just a little butter could be incorporated. Sliced pimento-stuffed olives and lemon juice were added. Meanwhile, the slaw was very quickly assembled. I thinly sliced the zucchini and fennel with a Benriner, and they were dressed with a combination of mayonnaise, lemon juice, chives, and mustard.

The meal worked out great. The martini sauce was nicely flavored in a pleasantly boozy sort of way, and the juniper berries gave it a very subtle, wispy hint of pine. The olives took charge visually and brought little punches of brininess that went well with the salmon. And, even though the slaw just sat in the background, off to the side of the plate, it was more delicious than I expected. It was shown in Gourmet with salmon cakes, it was great with the salmon I made, and I can imagine it as a side with all sorts of other things too. It’s incredibly simple to prepare, and I definitely recommend it.