World Cuisine.....Cajun
Crawfish Etoufee
Crawfish Etouffee:A classic southwestern Lousiana Cajun dish, a spicy hotstew always served with rice. You will need about 2 1/2 to 3 doz. crawfishto prepare this. If you obtain live ones, parboail them for 3-4 min.
to make peeling easy. Be sure to scoop out and save the fat that is in theheads--it is an essential part of the stock. Frozen crawfish where available,greatly simplifty the prepreation.
For Four: 1 1/2 c. crawfish tails (about 30 tails)
1/2 c. crawfish fat, kept refrigerated
6 tbs. salt butter
1/4 c. flour
1 c. chopper onions
1/2 c. chopped green pepper
1/2 c. chopped celery
1 tbs. finely minced garlic
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1/16 tsp. cumin
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/3 c. thinly sliced green onion tops
1 tbs. finely minced parsley
1 c. cold water
2 c. hot water, approximatery boiled rice.
In heavy 5-6 qt. pot or kettle, melt the butter over low heat. Graduallyadd
the flour, stirring constantly. Cook over low heat until a med. brown rouxis formed, abour 15 -20 min. Quickly add the onions, green pepper, celery,and garlic and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetablesare glazed and tender, about 20 min. Add the crawfish tails,
crawfish fat, salt, black pepper, cayenne, cumin, lemon juice, green onion
tops, and parlser and mix well. Add the 1 c. cold water and bring to a boil,or until the crawvish fails are just tender. Shortly before serving, heat
the etouffe slowly over low heat and gradually add 1-2 c. hot water to providethe gravy. Serve over boiled rice.