[tazandjan]

Enjoy cooking and want to be a hero to your wife or girlfriend? This is a bulletproof, simple recipe where all the prep can be done beforehand and then you can cook the dish together in less than half an hour. Have had dozens of guests over for this and everybody enjoys standing with a beer of glass or wine and maybe even doing the cooking with supervision.

Incidentally, do not double the pepper on your first try or you may kill yourself or one of your guests. Remember, I live in New Mexico, where the state question is "Red or Green?" Chile, of course.

Please report back on how you like it.

Taz’ Shrimp or Crawfish Etouffée

1 lb Shrimp/Crawfish Tails (2-3 Servings)

Seasoning Mix

½ t salt
½ t crushed red pepper (double for hot)
½ t ground cayenne pepper (double for hot)
½ t cumin
¼ t white pepper
¼ t black pepper
¼ t sweet basil leaves
¼ t thyme leaves

Mix dry ingredients thoroughly in a bowl.

Vegetables

1 T chopped onions (¼ medium onion)
1 T chopped red bell pepper (¼ red bell pepper)
4 T chopped green onions (3 green onions)

Combine the chopped onions and red bell pepper in one bowl and place the chopped green onions in another bowl.

Butter

¼ stick unsalted butter

Shrimp or Crawfish

1 lb peeled, deveined shrimp or crawfish tails

Reserve shells, heads and other parts from peeling for fish stock if desired.

Fish Stock or Chicken Stock

1 Cup fish stock or chicken stock

For fish stock, barely cover shrimp or crawfish shells and parts with water and boil for 30 minutes-4 hours, adding water as necessary. Strain shells and parts and pour the stock into a pyrex container or measuring cup. Excess may be frozen for future use.

Making the Roux

3 T olive oil
3 T all-purpose flour

In a sauce pan, heat the oil at high temperature until it just begins to smoke. Slowly stir in the flour, whisking continuously until the roux is a dark tan or light brown, or even a red-brown, if desired.

Reduce heat and add the chopped onion and red bell pepper mix and 1 t of the seasoning mix. Cook until the onions are lightly browned.

Combining the Ingredients

While browning the onions and red bell pepper, add the remainder of the seasoning mix to the fish or chicken stock in the pyrex container and heat in the microwave until boiling or nearly boiling. Turn heat to high on the roux and steadily add the stock and seasoning mix, stirring continuously until a rich sauce forms. Slowly add slices of the butter and stir until thoroughly melted. Add the shrimp and green onions and cook for 5-9 minutes until the shrimp turn a nice pink color.

Mound dirty, brown, or white rice in the center of a warmed plate and pour the shrimp etouffée around the rice. Serve immediately.

[wetpet]

sounds good to me taz! can i sub shrimp for the crawfish tails?

[Killer58]

Shrimp will work just fine Wet, just not quite as flavorful.

Yum Taz! I like your recipe better than the one I've use. I'm going to try it this weekend.

[champagne612]

8 degrees outside - 1/2 inch of ice covered by snow.

Sure beats the Domino's we had delivered for lunch.

[tazandjan]

Ed- Affirmative, David is correct. Most of the time I make it I use shrimp and chicken broth. Works with pre-cooked shrimp, too.

Doug- Low was 22 this morning, but it is mid-40s now with sunshine and dry roads.

[wetpet]

i think we were in the high 50's today. if this is global warming, i'm all for it. I do hope it starts getting nasty next week so i have something to look forward to weather wise in palm beach.

[Kurby69]

Thanks Taz!!! Might have to try that next week when I get home...

[StefVan]

Hmmm start getting hungry after reading your recipe Will forward this to my wifey as even a simple recipe I would be able to spoil

[212Export]

...mouthwatering...Thanks, Terry.

[Saint Bastage]

I'm a lazy chef. I needs a picture.

[tazandjan]

Lane- Try cooking it, take a photo, and share it with us.

Helpful hint on the rice. If you have a 4 oz/ 1/2 cup reusable plastic container or something of similar size, pack rice into it with a small spoon and then plop inverted in the middle of the plate. This makes a restaurant-pretty mound of rice around which you spoon the etouffee.

[KKRace]

There's a bunch of places in the gulf that will ship live crawdads on ice for a pretty reasonable price. Some of the seafood markets in Maryland have them pre-cooked or frozen and they are horible compared to live.

It's a lot of fun to have 50 or 100 lbs sent up and boil them with all the fixens and get a bunch of friends together for some good eats.

[cribbj]

Originally Posted by Saint Bastage

I'm a lazy chef. I needs a picture.

Lane, that's a pity, I could have snapped a photo today if I'd seen your post earlier. Taz's original post had my mouth watering, so I had an order of "1/2 & 1/2" (1/2 etouffee and 1/2 fried) crawfish at Landry's here in Houston. Not nearly as good as the original Landry's in Breaux Bridge but it wasn't bad!

[Granucci]

we are going to try it this weekend: hope to show pics begin-during-after