Oh my..this is a TASTY dish! if you like crawfish this is crawfish heaven on a plate. I grew up with crawfish eating as we in Sweden just like the folks in Louisina have made crawfish eating into a whole culture with crawfish boils that here dates back to the 16th century.
We have our crawfish season during august and that`s when we can go and fish them or buy them fresh in the stores.
We also import from Louisiana, Turkey and China.(but of principle i avoid the chinese crawfish) We actually have waters here right in and around the city of Stockholm where you can fish. When i was a kid i used to follow my uncle out in the boat way out in the countryside of west sweden to set the traps in the evening.
So here is my recipe for Crawfish ètouffée:
This recipe doesn`t use crawfish stock as you need whole crawfishes to make it but if you can make your own stock you definetily should and add about 1 cup of it and cook with that instead of water.
1 lb cleaned crawfish tails
If possible- crawfish fat from the heads and water to make ¾ cup
1 large tsp tomato paste
1 stick butter
one large onion, finely chopped
one medium bell pepper, finely chopped
celery in the same proportion as the bell pepper, finely chopped
1 heaping tsp all purpose flour
1 tblsp parsley, chopped
1 tblsp green onion, chopped
a few cloves garlic, finely chopped
Creole seasoning to taste
2 very thin slices of lemon
Hot sauce to taste
A little Worchestershire sauce
Cayenne pepper to taste and if you want, spice it up with your fav hotsauce before eating.
Season crawfish tails with creole seasoning and set aside. Melt butter, add onion, bellpepper and celery and cook on medium heat until tender. Stir in the flour, blend well. Add water or stock, crawfish fat, lemon, tomato, csyenne and garlic.Cook slowly for about 20 minutes and add more water or stock if needed.
When sauce is done, add crawfish tails and cover with lid. Cook for 8 minutes if using frozen defrosted tails, if using fresh cook for another 10-15 minutes. Season again to taste, add parsley and green onions, cook another 2 mins.
Serve over cooked rice, and with some garlic bread and crisp salad. A cold beer or a glass of white wine is tasty too.
