Millions of people around the world celebrate Mardi Gras (March 5th) and Carnival every year. It’s a worldwide festival of parades, music and, of course, richer, fattier foods leading up to the 40-day season of Lent, during which millions of Christians observe this religious tradition by fasting or foregoing treats and meats. In fact, the term “carnival” is from carnelevare, or “to remove meat.”
One popular Mardi Gras dish is gumbo. An important Creole stew from South Louisiana, gumbo usually features strong-flavored stock, meat, or shellfish. According to history author Dr. Carl A. Brasseaux, of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the first documented references to gumbo, which originated in West Africa, appeared around the turn of the 19th Century. Since that time, gumbo has evolved into countless variations. A version that’s soaring in popularity today due to the interest in plant-based foods is green gumbo (or gumbo des herbes).
Meatless Monday ambassador Richard McCarthy, member of the executive committee, Slow Food International, said, “Green gumbo is perfect for people exploring vegetarian options for Mardi Gras, Meatless Monday, and the six weeks of Lent that follow.”
During this time, cooks can dive into creative ways to turn Lent into a culinary adventure. Instead of ploughing through a complicated recipe, McCarthy wants to provide some helpful hints for green gumbo and other flavorful, plant-based recipes. Once the basics are learned, curious cooks can make countless variations on the gumbo theme.
The essentials of cooking green gumbo:
- Cook with what you have: collard greens, kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, spinach, and herbs like parsley, dill, etc. Green gumbo appears throughout the Lenten culinary calendar as meatless and on Holy Thursday in famous restaurants (like Dooky Chase) with meat stock.
- Regardless of which ingredients you use, begin by making a roux. Heat the pan with vegetable or olive oil, add flour, and mix with a wooden spoon until dark brown. The color of the gumbo will be determined by how dark you make the roux. Add celery, onion, and bell pepper. The roux gives butter beans and lima beans a great base of flavor. Or, consider any medley of vegetables.
- Umami is the savory flavor that many eaters say is missing in vegetarian recipes. One way to add umami to green gumbo is to make “shiitake bacon,” which provides the missing depth of flavor. Roast sliced shiitake mushrooms in the oven at 375 degrees F for 30-45 minutes in a concoction of olive oil, liquid smoke and/or smoked salt, smoked honey, or smoked paprika. If you can’t find shiitake mushrooms, you can swap them out for button mushrooms.
- Rice is a traditional accompaniment to gumbo. While a saucepan is perfectly good for preparing rice, the busy cook can also rely on a rice cooker to prepare perfect rice every time. Any grain or variety of rice can work, but long-grain rice is best since it provides the gumbo with more surface areas to cover with flavor.
McCarthy recommends a simplified version of the recipe crafted by Richard Stewart, the former chef of Gumbo Shop.
