Seafood & Sausage Gumbo

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large yellow onion, chopped fine
2 ribs celery, sliced thin
1 medium sized green bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 - 1 pound cans of whole tomatoes with juice, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 tsp hot pepper sauce
6 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 pounds raw medium sized shrimp, shelled & deveined
1 pound fresh lump crabmeat
1/2 pint fresh oysters with juice
1/2 pound kielbasa or smoked sausage, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
4 to 5 scallions, sliced
2 tsp file powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 cups hot cooked rice

Heat the vegetable oil in a pot over low heat. Stir in the flour until well blended. Make a roux by cooking slowly and stirring the mixture until it is rich brown in color.
Add the garlic, onion, celery and bell pepper, cook and stir just until the vegetables soften. Stir in the tomatoes with juice, bay leaf and hot pepper sauce, cook for about 45 minutes.
Stir in the chicken broth, shrimp, crabmeat and oysters with juice, let it simmer for 5 minutes.
In a nonstick skillet, cook the smoked sausage until browned it is browned around the edges, pour off the fat. To the simmering mixture, add the sausage, parsley, scallions, file powder, black pepper and salt. Let it simmer for 5 additional minutes.
Spoon the rice in soup bowls, ladle the gumbo over the rice.
Makes 12 servings.

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