This recipe is taken from _Emeril's New New Orleans Cooking_, by Emeril 
Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch.  This is an excellent cookbook by one of the 
best chefs in New Orleans.  All text below is from the book.  If you 
have an interest in New Orleans cooking, I heartily recommend this book.

Big Easy Seafood Okra Gumbo

Makes 12 cups, 12 first-course servings or 8 main-course servings

Gumbo--hearty and brimming with fresh seafood and vegetables--seems to 
be everyone's favorite in Louisiana, and it's gaining popularity 
throughout the country.  But some people hesitate to make gumbo, 
thinking it requires a great deal of time or energy to prepare.  It may 
have something to do with "rouxphobia," or fear of making a roux.  This 
gumbo doesn't have a roux; it's thickened with okra and file' powder, 
which is ground sassafras leaves.  Look for file' powder on your 
grocer's spice rack.  So keep in mind that although the ingredient list 
for this dish may seem long, once you have everything measured and ready 
to go, it's a quick and easy gumbo to make.

2 tablespoons olive oil               1 tablespoon minced fresh basil
1/2 cup chopped onions                1 teaspoon minced fresh oregano
1/4 cup chopped celery                1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup chopped green bell peppers    1 cup slice fresh okra (about 8
1/4 cup chopped red bell peppers        large okra)
1 tablespoon salt                     2 teaspoons Emeril's Creole 
4 turns freshly ground black pepper     Seasoning*
1/2 cup peeled, seeded and chopped    1/2 pound peeled medium fresh
    Italian plum tomatoes                 shrimp
2 tablespoons minced garlic           1 cup shucked fresh oysters, with
1 tablespoon minced shallots            their liquor
2 quarts Fish Stock                   1/2 pound (about 1 cup) fresh lump
1/2 pound (about 1 cup) firm-fleshed  crabmeat, picked over for shells 
    fish, such as grouper, tilefish,  and cartilage
    monkfish, or sea bass, diced      1 teaspoon file' powder
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce       4 cups cooked long-grain white
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce           rice, warm
6 bay leaves                          1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped green
                                      onions

1.  Heat the oil in a large pot over high heat.  When the oil is hot, 
add the onions, celery, and green and red peppers and saute' for 1 
minute.  Add the salt and pepper and saute' for 1 minute.  Add the 
tomatoes, garlic, shallots and saute', stirring occasionally, for about 
4 minutes.

2.  Stir in the stock, add the fish, Worcestershire, hot pepper sauce, 
bay leaves, basil, oregano, and thyme, and bring to a boil.  Cook over 
high heat, stirring occasionally, for about 8 minutes.  Reduce the heat 
to medium.

3.  Fold in the okra and Creole Seasoning, lower the heat, and simmer 
for 15 minutes.  Skim the impurities from the top of the gumbo, turn the 
heat to high, and cook for 5 minutes.  Fold in the shrimp, oysters, and 
crabmeat, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.  Slowly sprinkle in 
the file', stirring to incorporate it thoroughly, and simmer, stirring, 
for 2 minutes.  Remove from the heat.

4.  To serve as a first course, ladle 1 cup of the gumbo into each of 12 
gumbo bowls or soup plates, and add 1/3 cup of the rice to each; for a 
main course, allow 1 1/2 cups gumbo and 1/2 cup of rice.  Sprinkle each 
serving with 1 tablespoon of the green onions.

* Emeril's recipe for Creole Seasoning is in the cookbook.  Tony 
Cachere's Creole Seasoning is a good commercial substitute.