Crawfish Etouffee

[phoneixfire]

1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
3/4 cup onions, chopped
1/4 cup celery, chopped
1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 pints seafood stock (can be replaced with chicken stock or water)
2 lbs crawfish tails with fat
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup green onion topped, chopped fine
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped fine


In a heavy skillet over medium-high heat melt butter. Whisk in flour and cook until golden brown, stirring constantly. Add onion, celery and bell pepper. Saute until soft and glossy. Add garlic and stock then bring to a medium boil. Slowly boil for 30 minutes then add crawfish tails, salt, pepper, onion tops and parsley, stirring well. Simmer for 20 minutes. Serve over rice.

[DragonKeeper]

:drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :grouphug: :grouphug:

[Wiccan Warrior Alex]

Yum !!! I add 2T of Tony Chachere's original seasoning. I like to saute the onion and garlic first,
then set it aside to finish off the roux.

Cooking the margarine & flour till it's nice and brown is part of the secret, that is the 'roux'.
After you have made it once, you can experiment with how dark you like your roux. I like mine medium brown.
It's an acquired taste.

For a little variation, add a handful of shrimp or sub for the crawfish, if it's not available in your area.

If you are cooking your own tails, or buying tails, only use tails that are curled. Straight tails means the crawfish was dead
before cooking. Where I live, I have to buy the frozen tail meat, as fresh crawfish are not available.


:thumbup:

[Alycat79]

Ooooo, thanks for the tip about the tails, Alex!

Might have to try this with shrimp, though. I've never seen crawfish available here.

[phoneixfire]

The darker the roux the toastier the taste. I like my fairly dark too but you have to watch it close so it doesn't burn on you. I just recently found out that a lighter roux makes for a thicker sauce but I've really never done much with light roux since I'm after that nutty flavor.

Even though we are the land of crawfish, I tend to use the frozen tails since they are just easier. Now if I'm going to do some crawfish bisque I have to peel a good bit of my own so I have heads to stuff. MMMMMmmmmm.

........ I just made myself hungry.

[Bella]

YUM! :drool: I was born and raised in Louisiana and I miss the food there, now that I'm in GA.
Alex, no Louisiana meal would be complete without a little Tony's. :thumbup:
Thanks for sharing! :grouphug:

[phoneixfire]

My best friend moved to Georgia for a while. We use to have to send her care packages. A couple of years ago I sent someone in Iowa 10 lbs of boiled crawfish since he was from Mississippi and missed the food. His wife was home to accept the package. When he got home from work he found her locked in her bedroom with the baby refusing to come out because we had sent her a box of "roaches". :facepalm:: It took him a couple of hours to talk her out but eventually she did try them and decided they weren't that bad. At least the kids loved them. I do try to spread joy all across the country.