St. Marks 9/7 and Trash Fish Gumbo

[juan sapatos]

Caught the afternoon rising tide on the grass flats. 2 very nice trout, 1 spanish, 1 blue fish. That combined with frozen grunt and seabass had the makings of Trash Fish Gumbo.

Here's how you do it. Chop four big celery ribs and 2 medium onions and a smoked sausage link. Heat 2/3 cup olive oil and 1/3 cup butter in the soup pot over medium heat. Add 1 cup flour and brown to make a dark roux. STIR CONSTANTLY or the roux will burn and you will be ruined. Starts out smelling like baking bread. When it's done it smells like popcorn. If it smells like burnt anything, and has black spots, you blew it.

When the roux looks like choclate add the onions and celery (you can use bell pepper too, but my pal has a mental block so I omit them) and 5 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon salt, a bunch of black pepper and a pinch of cayenne. Cook together until soft, about 10 minutes. Add 1 quart of vegetable broth (available in a box at publix), 2 cups water and the sausage, bring to a boil. Cut up the fish. I used 2 skinned filets each of trout, spanish, grunt, bluefish and seabass (amounted to about 5 cups of cut up fish). Add to the boiling soup. Cover, reduce heat to simmer and simmer for 1.5 hours. Add 1/2 pint of claw meat or shrimp or oysters or whatever else you have handy, heat through and its ready. Better the next day or 2. Makes one gallon of soup. Portion out in 1 quart containers to inflict on your friends.