Crawfish Étouffée
Subscribe to our blog here!
Taken from the French language, etouffee means to smother. That is exactly what you do when making this dish. You smother all those delicious leftover crawfish tails in a spicy gravy, turning some leftovers and some veggies into a fancy stew.
The main thing to discuss here is the stock. I like making stock for this dish with leftover crawfish heads. If you choose not to make your own crawfish stock, regular chicken stock will be fine. If you do use your discarded crawfish heads for stock, please remember that the resulting stock will be much saltier than normal stock. So use caution when adding salt to your final product. This dish is best served on a bowl of steamed rice with a big old piece of garlic bread on the side.
Ingredients and Instructions
Crawfish Stock
- 1 pound of crawfish heads
- 7 cups of water
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 carrot chopped
- 1 stalk of celery chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 cloves of garlic chopped
Bring all ingredients to a boil in a large stock pot.
Reduce to a simmer. Allow to simmer for about two hours.
Etouffee
- 1/2 cup of butter
- 1/2 cup of flour
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 stalk of celery diced
- 1 jalapeno pepper diced
- 1 bell pepper diced
- 6 cloves of garlic diced
- 2 bay leaves
- Dash of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon of thyme
- Dash of hot sauce
- Dash of Worcestershire sauce
- About 5 cups of crawfish stock (or chicken stock)
- 1 pound of cooked and peeled crawfish tails
- 1 tablespoon of green onions chopped
- 1 tablespoon of parsley chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice
Melt butter in a large pot. Add flour a bit at a time until all is incorporated.
Stir roux until a blonde roux is formed (5-8 minutes).
Add onion, celery, jalapeno, and bell pepper. Cook on medium heat until veggies are soft and tender.
Add garlic, bay leaves, salt, black pepper, cayenne, and thyme. Cook for another five minutes or so until the garlic is soft.
Add hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and stock. Add stock one cup at a time until desired consistency is reached. You may not need the full five cups.
Add crawfish tails, green onions, parsley, and lemon juice. Simmer for at least an hour.
Serve hot on steamed rice, with a piece of garlic bread.
