Here's one I posted a while back. It's a hit every time I make it.
This one is kind of a gumbo "lite". Great for cold days...
Corn Soup with Shrimp
Wooden spatula for the stirrin' of the roux. DO NOT USE TEFLON - It WILL melt in the roux as Dave found out the hard way.
Indoor or outdoor plumbing facilities.
1 stick of real butter (no cheating with margarine!)
1/2 cup flour
2 onions, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
4 stalks of celery, chopped
1 can of Rotel
1 16 oz can of stewed tomatoes
3 ea. 16 oz cans of whole kernel corn
1 16 oz can of cream style corn
(Good luck finding 16 oz cans - I just get as close to it as I can)
A quart or so of water depending on how thick/thin you want it. Chicken broth is better.
Salt, black pepper & cayenne pepper or Tony Cachere's to taste
3+ pounds peeled shrimp
Optional 1/2 cup chopped green onion tops and fresh parsley for garnish.
1. Visit the toilet facilities and make sure you're on empty.
2. Chop all your veggies and set aside.
3. Get a couple beers good and cold and, if you have one, pull up a bar stool to the stove. You're gonna be stirrin' a while.
4. Melt butter over medium-low to medium heat. Use a pan (preferably cast iron) that is big enough to throw all ya veggies in it later. I don't recommend doing the roux in the soup pot - your wrist will cramp like hell after stirring for 40 minutes.
5. When butter is melted, slowly stir the flour in a little at a time. You want a good flowable mixture so you may not even use all the flour.
6. Swill your beers while constantly stirring the roux. (See why I told you to visit the toilet?!) It will take about 30-40 minutes to get it to a medium caramel color. DO NOT RAISE THE HEAT TO SPEED UP THIS PROCESS! If any black specs show up, you burned it and will have to start all over again.
7. When the roux is a nice caramel color with no black specks, throw in ya chopped and minced veggies. Let those cook down a bit (10 to 15 minutes) and throw in the Rotel and tomatoes. Simmer another 10 to 15.
8. Go visit the toilet and offload those beers you ingested during the roux stirring.
9. Turn mixture into your final soup pot. You'll need a good-size pot with some head room to add all those shrimp you gotta peel soon.
10. Add all the corn and mix well. Add everything else except the shrimp and simmer at least one hour.
11. While your soup simmers and stinks up da house, peel ya shrimp and keep 'em cold.
12. Drink more beer. Keep visiting toilet.
13. When you're ready to eat, bring the soup up to a nice bubbling boil, add the shrimp and cook 10 more minutes. Add green onion tops and parsley and serve with hot French bread.
ENJOY!
