Greens & Okra Gumbo

Can a Greek living in the South and married to a Southerner create an authentic gumbo recipe? Well, it all depends on what you define as authentic. 

For me, this is an authentic expression of a gumbo in my family. It's my GrecoSoCo way of doing things, and it's a culmination of a few events. We had frozen wild-caught North Carolina shrimp in our freezer. We had spinach in the refrigerator. A Master Gardener friend had an abundance of okra harvested and he'd shared some of his bounty. My Dewey asked if we might make gumbo with the okra. I checked with a friend who grew up in New Orleans, and she shared her gumbo recipe with me. One of these days, I will ask her to show me how to make a proper NOLA gumbo, but on the day that I was searching for a gumbo recipe, I had the ingredients, I had the hunger, but I was short on time. This recipe is what developed as a result, and it was utterly delicious. In fact, it was so good that I'm sharing it with you. Click here for a printable recipe.

There's not much more to this story than to say, thank you, Tom, and, thank you, Brenda! Because you gave me the okra, Tom, and because your recipe for gumbo is so involved, Brenda, I was forced into a corner. A little pressure often feeds a creative mind. My Greens & Okra Gumbo in printable format.

There's also a thank you owed to the amazing Leah Chase. Through her success and through the sharing of her recipe by her chef grandson, I am familiar with the gumbo tradition called Gumbo Z'Herbes (or Green Gumbo) which makes use of lots of greens. This is another piece of what inspired me to develop my gumbo recipe.

I use Carolina Gold Rice from Marsh Hen Mill. If you'd like to try it, this is how you can order online.