Roam Lab’s Campfire Gumbo Campfire Cooking

We went with the popular shrimp and sausage gumbo. Recipes can encompass a large assortment of herbs and spices, but I’ve cut back where possible for simplicities sake. Even so, cooking this meal took both my dutch oven and skillet. For those in the kitchen, a large pot and a frying pan do just as well.

Many components can be bought, pre-chopped, from the freezer aisle. As campfire cooks, we love frozen produce because they add one more chilling component in the cooler. Frozen shrimp, onion, bell pepper, and okra perform well in the gumbo, cut back on prep time, along with keeping the cooler cool.

Roam Lab Camper’s Gumbo Recipe

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

• 1 lb andouille sausage, sliced
• 1 lb medium shrimp, peeled & deveined
• 2 cans tomatoes, diced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 cup celery, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 green or yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups okra, sliced
• green onion, sliced (optional)
• 2 cups hot boiled rice
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 3/4 cups vegetable oil (this is split between several different steps)
• 1 teaspoon Creol or Cajun seasoning
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a skillet and brown sausage. Set aside for later.
2. Mix chicken broth and tomatoes in dutch oven and bring to a simmer.
3. Mix half a cup of oil and flour in skillet and whisk until medium or deep brown. This is called a roux. If it burns, start over.
4. Add chopped onion, celery, and bell pepper to roux and mix consistently. When vegetables are softened, mix into the simmering dutch oven.
5. Heat two more teaspoons of vegetable oil to skilled and add okra. Stir until lightly browned then add to dutch oven.
6. Add seasoning and sausage to dutch oven.
7. Occasionally stir contents of dutch oven while it simmers for one hour.
8. Stir in shrimp and simmer until shrimp is cooked through.
9. Add salt and pepper to taste.
10. Serve over a mound of rice. Garnish with green onions.