New Orleans Style Crawfish Étouffée Recipe 385

Steps:

• In a large, heavy saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons of the butter and whisk in flour to combine well. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until roux is a peanut butter color.
• Add onions, celery, bell pepper, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme and cook until vegetables are soft, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add stock, tomatoes, salt, red pepper, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a boil.
• Skim surface, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add crawfish tails and fat, lemon juice, green onions, and parsley and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining butter and stir to combine well. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve over hot rice.

Steps:

• Combine the rice and 6 cups water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until rice is tender and water has been absorbed.
• While the rice is cooking, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, and saute until transparent. Stir in the garlic, and cook for a minute. Stir in the flour until well blended. Gradually stir in the tomato sauce and remaining 1 cup water, then add the crawfish tails and bring to a simmer. Add the green onions and season with salt, pepper, and Cajun seasoning. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes over low heat, until the crawfish is cooked but not tough. Serve over hot cooked rice.

Steps:

• In a large heavy skillet, melt butter; stir in flour. Cook and stir over low heat until mixture is a caramel-colored paste, about 20 minutes. Add the celery, pepper and onions; stir until coated. Add the broth, water, parsley, tomato paste, bay leaf, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil., Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Discard bay leaf. Add crawfish and heat through. Serve with rice.

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Gradually stir in flour, and stir constantly until the mixture turns 'peanut butter' brown or darker, at least 15 or 20 minutes. I use a large fork with the flat side to the bottom of the pan in a side to side motion. This is your base sauce or 'roux'. It is very important to stir this constantly. If by chance the roux burns, discard and start over.
• Once the roux is browned, add the onions, garlic, celery and bell pepper to the skillet, and saute for about 5 minutes to soften. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and fish stock, and season with the seafood seasoning. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Season the sauce with hot pepper sauce and cayenne pepper (if using), and add the crawfish and shrimp. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the shrimp are opaque.

Steps:

• Assemble the chopped onion, bell pepper, celery, parsley and garlic for the étouffée; set aside. In a black cast iron pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Make a roux by gradually adding the flour to the oil, stirring constantly with a wire whisk. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until a medium brown roux is formed. Add the onion, bell pepper, celery, parsley and garlic and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the crawfish tails, salt, black pepper, white pepper, red pepper, thyme, oregano, bay leaf, green onion tops and parsley. Mix well. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the crawfish tails are tender. About 12 minutes. Continue to gently stir. Shortly before serving, heat the étouffée slowly over low heat and gradually add 1 to 2 cups hot water to provide the gravy. Serve over boiled rice and top with sliced green shallot tops. BOILED RICE: Fill a 6-quart pot with 14 cups of water. Yes, really. Bring the water to a boil and add 2 teaspoons of salt. When the water is boiling rapidly, pour in rice (you can adjust the amount of rice based on how many servings you need, but don't exceed 4 cups of rice). When the water comes back to a boil, reduce the heat but keep the water actively bubbling. As the rice cooks, you should continue to stir the rice every 2 or 3 minutes to distribute the heat also you need not cover the pot while the rice is boiling. It should take no more than 15 minutes for the rice to be completely, perfectly cooked. As it begins to look fully cooked, taste a few grains of the rice to be sure there are no hard centers. When the rice tastes cooked to you, immediately take it off the heat, pour it into a colander and rinse well with hot water.