Seafood gumbo is flavorful and adaptable

The past week and even in to this week, our family has had such a busy schedule. Most of you know that when our children have a birthday it seems to stretch out for days as we celebrate with family and school classmates. This year was no different. Our Lexie turned 9 years old Friday, and we had a good time celebrating her precious life as she is a special gift to our family. She took cookies to her class and to her Explore class to share, and there was cake at home and cake when grandmas and grandpas came to see her and it seemed to go on all weekend. But we would not want it any other way; after all, you only turn 9 once.

My sister, Linda Bollinger, made this recently. She handed me the recipe Sunday morning at church and said I needed to try it. I said better yet, I will put it in the newspaper and many people can try it. Linda did not use the oysters, so play with it and include what you wish.

Seafood Gumbo

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup flour

4 ribs celery, chopped

2 medium onions, chopped

1 small green pepper, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 to 1 pound okra, sliced

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 quart chicken broth

1 quart water

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon hot sauce

1/4 cup ketchup

1 small tomato, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

2 slices bacon or 1 small ham slice, chopped

1 bay leaf

1/4 teaspoon dried whole thyme

1/4 teaspoon dried whole rosemary

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 pounds unpeeled medium-size fresh shrimp

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 pound fresh crabmeat

1 (12-ounce) container fresh oysters, undrained, optional

Hot cooked rice

Gumbo file, optional

Combine 1/2 cup oil and flour in a large Dutch oven; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until roux is caramel-colored, about 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in celery, onion, green pepper and garlic; cook an additional 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Fry okra in 1 tablespoon hot oil until browned. Add to gumbo, and stir well over low heat for a few minutes. At this stage, the mixture may be cooled, packaged and frozen or refrigerated for later. Add broth and next 11 ingredients; simmer 2 1/2 hours; stir occasionally.

Peel and devein shrimp; add shrimp, chicken, crabmeat, and oysters, if desired, during last 10 minutes of simmering period. Remove bay leaf. Serve over rice. Add gumbo file, if desired. Yields 14 cups.

After Linda gave me her recipe, I did not have any other recipe mail, so I headed to my files and pulled out a few recipes I have not included in here before. I hope you enjoy them.

Rigatoni with a Ribeye Steak Sauce

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 (12-ounce) ribeye steaks

Salt and pepper

2 onions, thinly sliced

2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

3/4 cup dry red wine

1 (26-ounce) jar marinara sauce

1 cup beef broth

16 ounces dried rigatoni pasta

3 ounces Parmesan, shaved

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy large frying pan over high heat. Sprinkle the steaks with salt and pepper. Cook the steaks until they are brown but still rare in the center, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the steaks to a plate and set aside to cool completely. Add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil to the same pan. SautŽ the onions and carrots until the onions are translucent, about 8 minutes, with additional salt and pepper, to taste. Add the garlic and oregano, and sautŽ for 1 minute. Add the wine and simmer for 1 minute. Add the marinara sauce and broth. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat to allow the flavors to blend, about 10 minutes. Season the sauce, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, trim off any fat from the steaks, then cut the steaks into bite-size pieces and set aside. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the rigatoni and boil until it is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Drain the rigatoni. Toss the rigatoni and reserved steak pieces and any accumulated juices from the steaks with the sauce to coat. Transfer the pasta to bowls. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese shavings and serve.

Shrimply Divine Pasta

1 (6-ounce) package mafalda noodles (or other pasta)

12 ounces fresh or frozen and thawed medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 1/2 teaspoon bottled minced garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil or cooking oil

1 cup chicken broth

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed

4 cups pre-washed (packaged) baby spinach or torn spinach

Finely shredded Parmesan cheese

Freshly ground black pepper or crushed red pepper

Cook pasta according to the package directions. Drain well; keep pasta warm. Meanwhile, rinse shrimp; pat dry. For sauce, in a large skillet cook garlic in hot oil over medium-high heat for 15 seconds. Add shrimp. Cook and stir for 2 to 3 minutes or until shrimp are opaque. Remove shrimp. Combine chicken broth, cornstarch, and basil. Add to skillet. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Add the spinach. Cook 1 to 2 minutes more, or until wilted. Return the shrimp to skillet; stir to combine. Toss shrimp mixture and pasta together. Pass Parmesan cheese and pepper. Makes 4 main-dish servings.

This coffeecake is especially good to serve at a bridal or baby shower brunch. It is so refreshing with the burst of lemon.

Lemon Cream Coffee Cake

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 (8-ounce) carton lemon yogurt

1 1/2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg or mace

1 cup butter

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup chopped pecans or sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degree. Grease a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan; set aside. In a medium mixing bowl beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in 1/4 cup sugar; fold in lemon yogurt and lemon peel. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl stir together 3 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg or mace. Cut in the 1 cup butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Combine eggs, milk and almond extract. Add to flour mixture, mixing until blended. Spread half of the batter in the prepared pan. Spoon the cream cheese mixture over the batter. Spoon the remaining batter in small mounds over the cream cheese mixture, spreading out as much as possible. Combine the 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup flour; cut in the 1/4 cup butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in pecans or almonds. Sprinkle nut mixture over batter in pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until cake is golden and toothpick inserted in dough mounds comes out clean (do not test in filling). Cool on wire rack at least 45 minutes before serving. Chill to store. Makes 12 servings.

I had fun looking through some of my old recipes to find these. If you have time to do the same, send them in and other readers can enjoy some of your old favorite recipes as well.

Have a great week and until next time, happy cooking.