The silver lining with the situation right now (Covid-19 quarantine) is that we have a whole lot more time to cook! And trying to avoid the grocery store means i’m digging into the freezer to figure out what I need to use! I found some frozen cod filets and I also had some shrimp and salmon portions in the fridge that I knew I needed to use soon. My husband is obsessed with any kind of soup and comfort food is just so nice right now, so I thought I would attempt a seafood gumbo! I loved how it turned out, warm, rich and healthy!
Ingredients
Protein:
2 salmon filets
1 pd of uncooked shrimp
2 frozen cod filets
*you can use any protein you have on hand, leftover rotisserie chicken, sausage, whatever sounds good to you!
Produce:
2 onions
2 bell peppers (any color)
4 celery ribs
2 ribbed and seeded Jalapenos or serranos (add more if you want more spice, leave them out if you want it mild)
Pantry:
1 28 oz can of crushed or chopped tomatoes
¼ cup of tomato paste (I didn’t have any so I threw in some tomato sauce I had in the fridge)
2 cups of bone broth/chicken stock or any other stock you have on hand
3 T ghee or avocado oil
Spices:
Salt
Pepper
Creole or Cajun seasoning
Prep
Defrost your frozen fish in a sink full of water. Just keep the fish in the package.
While that’s defrosting, chop all of your veggies. Onions, bell peppers, celery and hot peppers if you’re using them. I like to put all of my chopped veggies into a bowl off to the side.
*Save your onion and celery scraps for bone broth
Cut your thawed fish into bite sized cubes and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then coat with the cajun seasoning.
Don’t touch your shrimp yet. If you have nice salmon filets, also leave those alone for now. The trick to this is not letting the fish get overcooked in the gumbo, so save your good stuff for later.
Instant Pot Instructions
Hit Saute and add in ghee or avocado oil so that the bottom of the pot is at least coated.
Once it’s warm, add the cubed and seasoned fish. Let the fish brown for a couple of minutes, don’t force the fish off the bottom of the pot, if it’s sticking let it release on its own. Just make sure the outside of the fish has been browned on most sides. Remove it with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate.
Add the chopped veggies and let them soften up add about a TBSP of the cajun/creole seasoning to the veggies. Let saute for 2 minutes or so until fragrant.
Hit cancel. Then add the tomatoes, broth, cooked white fish and tomato paste and give it all a stir. Put the lid on the Instant pot and set the pressure cook to 5 minutes. Of course, its going to take time for the pressure to build and then it’ll cook under pressure for the 5 minutes.
While the soup is coming to temp, let’s cook our salmon. I didn’t want to put my nice Whole Foods portions in the Instant Pot because I didn’t want it to get overcooked, so instead I made my salmon portions the way I usually do. Place the filets on a cookie sheet. Top the salmon portions with your favorite BBQ sauce or even just the Cajun/creole seasoning. Set your oven to Broil Hi, let it warm up a few minutes. Put the filets in the oven for 8-9 minutes and that’s it! I love my salmon this way because its med or med/rare and so buttery!
Now, back to the Instant Pot, once the alarm goes off after the pressure cook, press cancel and carefully do a quick release.
Remove the lid once all of the steam has been released and hit the saute button again. Add in the shrimp and let the shrimp just cook through (til it turns pink). This will keep the shrimp from getting tough and rubbery. If you have pre-cooked rotisserie chicken this is also when you'd add that, just to warm it through. This is also when you can add that salmon, or even just put the salmon in your bowl and top with the gumbo and stir it in! It'll keep it from getting too dry.
Add in any cauliflower or regular rice for a more hearty bowl.
Stovetop Instructions
Put your favorite soup pot on the stove on med/high and add your ghee or oil.
Once it’s warm, add the cubed and seasoned fish. Let the fish brown for a couple of minutes, don’t force the fish off the bottom of the pot, if it’s sticking let it release on its own. Just make sure the outside of the fish has been browned on most sides. Remove it with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate.
Drop heat to medium.
Add the chopped veggies and let them soften up add about a TBSP of the cajun/creole seasoning to the veggies. Let them become fragrant and start to brown a little bit. Add more ghee or oil if its getting too dry. Once you get a little bit of browning to your veggies and the onions are getting translucent, add a little bit of the broth to the pot and stir, make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot to get the good tasty brown bits up off the bottom.
Add in the tomatoes, cooked fish, paste and the rest of the broth and cover. Let the soup come up to a simmer and let simmer for as long as you want. Occasionally stir to make sure the bottom doesn’t burn.
While the soup is simmering, put your nice salmon filets on a pan and put your oven on broil Hi. I like to put a layer of bbq sauce on my salmon, but you can also sprinkle it with the cajun seasoning. Once the oven has warmed up a bit, put the fish on broil for 8-9 minutes. I love my salmon buttery and this makes it perfectly!
About 10-15 minutes before you want to serve your soup, throw the shrimp in to cook! If you had pre-cooked shrimp, just throw it in a few minutes before to warm up. This will keep your shrimp from getting rubbery. This is also the time when you'd add any of your pre-cooked protein like leftover rotisserie chicken.
Portion off some of the salmon filets and add them into the gumbo when you’re ready to eat it.
And enjoy!
Add in any cauliflower rice or regular rice for a more hearty bowl.
*I wouldn’t use a crock pot for soup recipes, I find that soups made in the crock pot often lack that depth of flavor that I want with my soups.
