Crawfish Etouffee

We had our 2nd annual McCao crawfish boil in mid-April.  It was kind of a scramble, because apparently crawfish season ran a little late this year due the hard freezes over winter.  Too bad we didn't expect that and arranged the crawfish boil before I was sure we could get our hand on some.  Well the usual local suppliers: HEB, Whole Foods, Quality Seafood, and Fiesta had none to sell yet.  Instead of cancelling, we just had some crawfish overnighted to our front door from Louisiana through Louisiana Crawfish Company.  Haha. It was awesome! Of course, there was the usual Jake vs. crawfish throw down.  Jake won. He ate like, 3 live mud bugs.  We ordered 40lbs and had a few pounds left, so I made our friends help me peel the rest and saved the tails to make my mom's crawfish etouffee.

This etouffee is the delicious combo of buttery smokey roux, and that classic celery, onion, green bell pepper combo that marks great creole dishes.  I don't know how exactly my mom started making this recipe, but it was definitely something we looked forward to a few times a year.  I want to guess my mom got the recipe from some of my family (my uncle) who went to LSU for school.  There are actually a lot of Vietnamese immigrants in Louisiana, most probably picked LA because they heard French was spoken there, like my uncle.  How surprised they were when they got there and couldn't understand a lick of that weird french-creole languages.  Haha.  Anyway, this crawfish etouffee recipe is da bomb diggity.  I usually double the recipe because it's usually not enough!  The season mix is created first, and you use that season mix throughout the recipe.  I copied this recipe from one of my mom's old recipe books that are literally falling apart and hand written, so I'm sorry if the directions are a little confusing!

Crawfish Ettouffee
SEASON MIX

  • 2 tsp saslt
  • 2 tsp ground cayenne red pepper
  • 1 tsp white pepper
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp dried sweet basil
ROUX

  • 1/4 c chopped onion
  • 1/4 c chopped celery
  • 1/4 c chopped green pepper
  • 2/3 c vegetable oil
  • 3/4 c flour
Directions for roux:

  1. Heat oil over high heat.  Whisk in flour, stirring constantly until the roux is a dark red brown.  Be careful not to burn! It can burn very quickly.
  2. Remove from heat and stir in vegetables and 1 tsp of the seasoning mix
SAUCE

  • 3 c fish or chicken stock
  • 2 sticks butter
  • 2 lbs crawfish
  • 1 c green onions
Directions:

  1. Bring 2 cups of the stock to a boil in a large pot.  Gradually add roux and whisk well
  2. Reduce heat and cook 2 more minutes
  3. In another large pan, melt 1 stick of butter and saute the crawfish.  Add chopped green onions and remaining stick of butter and 1 c of stock, shaking pan instead of stirring and cook for 5 minutes
  4. Combine the sauteed crawfish/green onion mixture into the roux/stock mixture.  Serve over rice and/or french bread.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Copy Cat Kerbey Queso

Image
You cannot be a proper Tex-Mex lover without eating at least 1 quart of queso per year.  I'm pretty sure I started the year off in the right direction by making this copy-cat Kerbey Queso for NYE.   Kerbey Lane Queso is my favorite in Austin.  So creamy, so cheesy, and so good.  White queso with pico and a scoop of guacemole in it that you kind-of have to dig around in, which makes it soooo good.  Have I said how good it is? That being said, I've tried so many queso recipes.  I've made beschemels, I've used expensive, good cheeses.  No queso seems to hold that creamy consistency very well.  So when one of my friends, Rachel, was back home in Austin from her now home-town in Seattle she asked one of the servers what's in it.  She just had to know.  The server leaned in close to her and whispered, "it's white processed cheese."  OMG, my mind was blown.  No wonder it's so flippin' good.  I think the HEB brand white queso is...
Read more

Mom's Bun Bo Hue Chay (Vietnamese vegetarian spicy "beef" noodle soup)

Image
After many requests from my sister and cousin, I finally documented my mom's vegetarian bun bo chay !  Get ready, this recipe is kind of intense and usually takes 2 days to make.  My mom makes a giant pot of it and the whole family eats it in the span of a day or two.  She freezes the broth for later use (if there is any left over!).  The flavor does enhance each time the broth is reheated, so it's usually better the second day and each subsequent time.  It's so good, I often prefer it to regular bun bo (Spicy Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup). Bun bo Hue  is a specialty of the central region of Vietnam, where my dad's side is from.  You won't find it as commonly as pho  or bun  (vermicelli bowls) in most Vietnamese restaurants.  This is a soup that is a labor of love and family and spicy-tolerance.  My ong noi  (paternal grandfather) used to make the best bun bo hue !  Now my Aunt Angelique/ Co Be  makes a cleaner, tast...
Read more