Crawfish Etouffee

Photo: flickr user justgrimes

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup finely chopped shallots

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

4 cups water

Crawfish claws

heads

Tops of green onions

1 cup finely chopped onions

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper

3 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1 1/2 cups crawfish tails also add fat from the heads

2 cups stock

Preparation

First, make the stock by boiling the crawfish heads and claws in the water. Add the tops of the green onions and boil for 15-20 minutes.

Saute the onions, celery and green pepper in the butter. Cook slowly, stirring constantly, until the vegetables are limp or well done. Stir in the flour and cook for 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook 10 minutes longer. Add poultry seasoning, crawfish tails and fat from the crawfish heads. Cook for 5 minutes and then stir in the stock.

Simmer for 15 minutes, then add the shallots, parsley, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes longer and then allow to set for 20 minutes off the fire. Reheat and serve over rice. (You can also use this recipe for shrimp etouffee.)