Crawfish Etouffee

By norsegal8

Etouffee means smothered, and this dish is smothered with both a lid and with it's holy trinity of vegetables, onion, celery and bell pepper. The leading role in this savory crawfish stew is taken by the crawfish shells used for making the stock, which, when toasted, give the dish great depth of flavor.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 small onion, diced
• half a red bell pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• leaves from 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 small tomato, peeled, seeded, and diced
• 1 quart shellfish stock
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 pound peeled crawfish tails
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 2 dashes Worcestershire
• 2 dashes Tobasco
• salt
• black pepper
• 3 cups cooked Louisiana white rice

Preparation

Step 1

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk the flour into the very hot oil. It will immediately begin to sizzle and fizz. Keep whisking and reduce the heat to moderate. Continue whisking until the roux takes on a gorgeous dark brown color, about 15 minutes. Add the onions, reduce the heat, and cook until the onions caramelize. If you add the vegetables at the same time, the liquid they give off will boil the onions, and they won't caramelize.

2. When the onions have turned the roux shiny and dark, add the celery, bell peppers, garlic, thyme, cayenne and paprika. Cook for 5 minutes. Now add the tomatoes and shellfish stock and increase the heat to high.

3. Once the sauce has come to a boil, reduce the heat to moderate and let simmer for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring often. Be careful not to let it curn or stick to the bottom of the pan.

4. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the butter. Add the crawfish tails and green onions. Season with Worcestershire, Tabasco, salt and pepper. Once the crawfish tails have heated through, remove the saucepan from the heat.

5. Serve in individual bowls over rice.