I’ve had this recipe copied in my home recipe file for so long I have no idea now where I even got it from, but it’s one of my favorite gumbos.  When fresh okra is in season, definitely give this a try.

1 qt. okra, cut into 1/2 in. pieces    
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbs oil
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
2 qts. water          
1 16 oz. can stewed tomatoes
2-3 lbs shrimp    
2 bay leaves
2/3 cup oil           
2 tbs Worcestershire
1/2 cup flour       
2 small boiled crabs
2 medium onions, chopped             
Salt to taste
1 bell pepper, chopped      
1 1/2 tsp. Black pepper
2 ribs celery, chopped      
1/2 tsp. Cayenne pepper

• Peel and devein shrimp. Set aside in refrigerator. Boil shrimp shells in 2 quarts of water several hours to make a stock. Set aside.
• In a heavy skillet, heat 2 tbs oil and saute the okra about 1/2 hour. Set aside.
• In a large (6-8 qt.) heavy Dutch Oven make a dark brown roux with the oil and flour. Add onions, bell pepper, celery, garlic and parsley and saute until tender. Add tomatoes and cook 15 minutes. Add sauteed okra, shrimp stock, crabs (broken into quarters), Worcestershire sauce, black pepper and cayenne. Bring to a slow boil and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add salt to taste. Add the peeled shrimp and continue cooking until the shrimp are done.
• Serve over steamed rice. This dish is best if cooked a day in advance and left overnight.

My husband Rod loves homemade everything except when it comes to coleslaw - then he wants “storebought”. We live 17 miles from the nearest grocery store so this doesn’t always work for me. Deep down inside who doesn’t love KFC coleslaw?  I found this recipe online, tried it on him and he absolutely loves it.  Truly tastes like “the real thing”.  

8 C shredded cabbage
1/4 C shredded carrots
2 T minced onion
1/3 C sugar
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 C milk
1/2 C mayonnaise
1/4 C butter milk
1 1/2 T white vinegar (I use white Balsamic for its sweetness but any white vinegar will work)
2 T fresh lemon juice

• Shred the cabbage and carrots in a food processor and then empty them into a large mixing bowl.  Stir in minced onion.
• Put the remaining ingredients in either the bowl of a processor or blender and blend until smooth.  Pour over cabbage and carrots and mix thoroughly.
• Cover and chill several hours before serving for best flavor.

OK.  So I started this as a recipe blog and not a general foodie blog but I’ve got to get this off my chest.  I am not into reality tv like Survivor or Americah Teen Idol, but I love Search for the Next Food Network Star and Search For the Next Iron Chef, the latter of which concluded this past Sunday night.  Did I say “concluded”?  Ended in a god awful train wreck would be more accurate.

What were the reigning Iron Chefs thinking when they cast thier votes?  Granted, we can’t taste the dishes, but this Michael Symon they chose as winner looks like a tatooed crack-crazed convenience store clerk and should be viewed as an embarrassment to his profession rather than being rewarded.

The second runner up, who should have won, was John Besh who comports himself with obvious pride in his profession.   He’s an ex-Marine who took his gun and a boat and a whole lot of beans around his hometown of New Orleans in the wake of Katrina and fed a lot of people.  Here’s a snippet from his bio on Food Network which totally eclipses Seymore’s:

Chef John Besh Acclaimed chef John grew up hunting and fishing in Southern Louisiana, learning at an early age the essentials of Louisiana’s rich culinary traditions. After graduating from The Culinary Institute of America, his talent and drive have earned John critical kudos from the outset of his career: in 1999, Food & Wine named him one of the “Top 10 Best New Chefs in America.” In 2003, Gourmet magazine included Restaurant August in its “Guide to America’s Best Restaurants,” and in 2006, it cited Restaurant August as one of America’s Top 50 Restaurants. In 2005, John received a nomination for a James Beard Award, and he won the Beard Award for Best Chef of the Southeast in 2006. Also that year, he defeated Chef Mario Batali on Iron Chef America on Food Network, scoring a victory in the andouille sausage battle. The 2007 Zagat Guide rates Restaurant August #1 in New Orleans for both Food and Service.

I was embarrassed for America by Symon when he showed up in cutoffs and a T-shirt at the American Ambassador to France’s residence to cook for the Ambassador’s guests.   Has he ever considered that maybe the reason Europeans supposedly disdain our culture is not so much our politics as our “culture”?  Symon is a poster child for The Ugly American.

I don’t know what Bobby Flay, Cat Cora and Morimoto were thinking - with as many near last place showings as Symon had during the competition they had to know he will be the easier one to defeat than John Besh.  One of the parting comments I heard regarding Besh made by Alton Brown was that at times he had been “cocky”.  Sorry. That’s a justifiable part of being a Marine.

I hope they clean Symon up as a condition of his contract and that his skills carry him on to provide genuinely good cooking shows for the Food Network, much as they pegged a winner in Guy Fieri, winner of the 2006 Search for the Next Food Network Star who has since spun off into several good shows. 

As for John Besh? He is a true American Chef, and in my eyes, a true American Iron Chef.