Shrimp Etouffee

Shrimp Etouffee on rice.

The night before, Lee made the shrimp stock by peeling the shells and tails off of the shrimp and putting them with the onion, garlic, and other herbs listed in the recipe. We refrigerated the stock and let the ingredients chill overnight.

The next night, my parents, my brother and his wife and their baby, Bethany, came over for dinner; and we made the etouffee as the main entrée. Instead of crawfish, we used shrimp.

To start, Lee made the white roux by sweating the onions, celery, bell peppers, tomatoes, and herbs in butter. Then she added the flour to finalize the roux. Then we added the shrimp. Both of us thought that adding the shrimp in at this stage might dry it out. But we followed the recipe to see how the it would turn out. At this point the roux was of a pasty consistency. But after adding the rest of the ingredients and the stock, the etouffee resembled a soupy gumbo. As it cooked it thickened up somewhat and we added in more stock to thin it out. It stewed while the rice was cooking.

Once the rice was ready, we attempted to plate our dishes, but we didn’t really know what would look good. After a few tries, we found that it was just easiest to put the rice on the plate and pour the etouffee over.

We did find the shrimp to be a little overdone, but the flavor of the “stew” was pretty good. In the future, we thought we’d put the shrimp in near the end to keep it from being overdone. Everyone, however, enjoyed the etouffee, and overall we found it to be a pretty simple dish to make.

Sweating the veggies in butter.

Peeled shrimp, ready for warm bath in roux.

The second set of vegetables prepped to go.

Adding the second batch of ingredients to the make the roux.

Adding flour to finalize the roux.

White roux in the making.

We have our white roux.

Adding in the shrimp stock.

Shrimp stock married to the roux.

Seasoning, parsley, etc. added in.

Shrimp Etouffee!

Crawfish Etouffee -- A Louisianna Classic

Recipe serves 8-12 people

Ingredients:
2 lbs crawfish tail meat
(Group 1)
1 stick of butter (1/4 cup)
1 cup onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup green bell peppers, finely chopped
1/2 cup red bell peppers, finely chopped
1/2 cup tomatoes, coarsely chopped
2 bay leaves
2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped (more, if you like)

2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 cup flour
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
1 oz. sherry
1 cup green onions, sliced
8 cups seafood/shrimp stock [can substitute 4 cups of chicken broth with 4 cups of water]
Salt
Pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preparation:
Melt butter in pan over medium heat, without browning.

Add Group 1 to butter and sautee for 5-7 minutes over medium-high heat.

Add flour to create white rue. Mix until well-combined and cooks away rawness of flour (approximately 1 minute). Then, add crawfish meat and tomato paste, stirring constantly over medium-high heat. Slowly add stock, about 1 cup at a time, stirring between each pour. Stir until you have a thick, sauce-like consistency. (You might not use all the stock.) Then, bring to a boil and let simmer. Add stock, as necessary to maintain consistency (similar to thick clam chowder) and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Salt, pepper and cayenne to taste.

Add sherry, parsley and green onions over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Serve with rice and Tobasco sauce.

Recipe by ScooterSMcGee on YouTube video

Tip: As with most Cajun/Creole food, etouffee is better cooked, cooled and reheated so flavors can merry.

Note: About half of the recipes we read include some Worcestshire Sauce, thyme, and/or lemon juice. We will experiment with the original recipe and may add these for round 2.
If you REALLY want wonderful flavor and make more of this dish from scratch, here is a shrimp stock recipe that sounds like it will add more complexity to the dish.

Shrimp Stock Recipe (provided by nolacuisine.com)
The Shells and tails from 2 lb. of Shrimp
1/2 Cup chopped Onion
1/4 Cup chopped Celery
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Lemon sliced
2 Fresh Bay Leaves
3 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
1 tsp. Black Peppercorns




Add all ingredients to a 2 qt. saucepan. Cover this with cold water, it should be about 6-8 Cups Cups. You’ll need 1 1/2 Cups for the Etouffee. Bring almost to a boil, reduce the heat to a low simmer. Simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour. Strain.

Tip: When adding fresh Thyme to a simmered dish like this, I always bundle the Thyme tightly with butchers twine. The leaves will remove themselves while cooking, and you will get all of the flavor from the stems. When ready to serve just remove the bundle of stems along with your bay leaves.