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April 25, 2005
Podcast - Crawfish Etouffee
Crawfish Etouffee is one of the classic Creole/Cajun dishes from New Orleans and South Louisiana. You'll hear a bit of discussion/debate as to whether this is a "Cajun" or a "Creole" dish, but it's really a French dish, so it's essentially both. "Etouffee" is the French word for to stew or smother, so we're talking about "crawfish stew," and that sort of cooking is common to both city and country cuisine.
Here's a great etouffee recipe from Chef John Folse's website. If you can't get crawfish tails, you can use this same base recipe with two pounds of shrimp and make Shrimp Etouffee, or you could substitute boneless, skinless chicken breasts and make Chicken Etouffee. While doing the podcast, it dawned on me that a Chicken Etouffee might even be made as a Kosher dish. I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of keeping kosher, so if anybody who is would like to comment on this possibility, please do.
The Podcast (28:38, 26.2MB)
The recipe:
Louisiana Style Crawfish Etouffee
PREP TIME: 1 Hour
SERVES: 6
INGREDIENTS:
* 2 pounds cleaned crawfish tails
* 1/4 pound butter
* 1 cup onion, chopped
* 1/2 cup celery, chopped
* ½ cup green bell pepper, chopped
* ½ cup red bell pepper, chopped
* ½ cup tomatoes, diced
* 2 tbsps garlic, diced
* 2 bay leaves
* 1/2 cup tomato sauce
* 1 cup flour
* 2 quarts crawfish stock or water
* 1 ounce sherry
* 1 cup green onions, chopped
* ½ cup parsley, chopped
* salt and cayenne pepper to taste
* Louisiana Gold Pepper Sauce
* 2 cups white rice, steamed
METHOD:
In a 2-gallon stock pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, bell peppers, tomatoes, garlic and bay leaves. Sauté until vegetables are wilted, approximately 3-5 minutes. Add crawfish tails and tomato sauce and blend well into mixture. Using a wire whip, blend flour into the vegetable mixture to form a white roux. Slowly add crawfish stock or water, a little at a time, until sauce consistency is achieved. Continue adding more stock as necessary to retain consistency. Bring to a rolling boil, reduce to simmer and cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add sherry, green onions and parsley and cook an additional 5 minutes. Season to taste using salt and cayenne pepper. Serve over steamed white rice using a few dashes of Louisiana Gold Pepper Sauce.
Posted by YatPundit at April 25, 2005 3:37 PM