Skip to main content

Shrimp Etouffee

Beautiful butteriness

I've been craving seafood etouffee since leaving Bloomington, and my access to Yats, in 2005. A few weeks ago, I made this seafood creole in an attempt to fulfill my craving with less butter and time, but it didn't do the trick. So on a long weekend with husband around to watch baby, I finally made some etouffee.

Emeril's recipe was the obvious choice, and I pretty much followed it exactly. My only changes were SLIGHTLY less butter (like a tablespoon less, because just that little bit made me feel better), a fresh tomato instead of canned, and veggie stock instead of shrimp stock, just because I already had some ready to go. Oh, and I used Chachere's seasoning instead of making Emeril's essence, because again, it was already ready.

So delicious. I love the amount of spice, and the amount of richness in the sauce was just right. If every day could be a Yats meal, I would have served it with garlic bread on the side, but I decided we had filled our butter quota for the evening.

I'd still like to make crawfish etouffee sometime, but that will have to wait until I can find some good crawfish and I have another 7 uninterrupted minutes to stir a roux. It might be a while.


The Recipe (Emeril's recipe with only minor adjustments):
5 tb butter
1/2 c flour
2 onions, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
4 ribs celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tb Cajun seasoning
1 quart stock (shrimp or veggie)
3 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 c parsley, chopped
1/2 c green onion, sliced
white rice, for serving

  • Melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and stir for 5-7 minutes until the roux is the color of peanut butter.
  • Add onions, bell peppers, celery, and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often.
  • Add tomatoes, bay leaves, salt, cayenne, and 1 tb of Cajun seasoning. Cook 3 minutes, stirring.
  • Mix in stock.
  • Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Season shrimp with remaining 1 tb of Cajun seasoning, add it to the pot, and stir to distribute.
  • Cook 5-10 minutes until shrimp are cooked through.
  • Mix in parsley.
  • Serve over white rice and top with green onion.

The Verdict:
Overall grade: A-
Overall reason: Delicious, but maybe not enough to justify the calories
Time to prepare: 90 minutes
Husband quote: "It's really good. How is this different from jambalaya?"

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Curry Fried Rice

Excited for these leftovers. One of the things I wanted to try with my  new jar of curry powder  was fried rice. Years ago, Miles got fried rice at  Korea House  and it was the best fried rice I'd ever had. I suspected there was curry powder in it, but at that time I had never really cooked with curry powder, so I tucked that knowledge away for a later date. After reading a few recipes, I went rogue on this one. I couldn't even begin to effectively guess at what proportions I ended up with, so the recipe below is more of a rough guideline of ingredients. The "Recipe" (sorry no quantities; follow your heart): leftover jasmine rice tofu, cubed and crisped in the oven with avocado oil and salt vegetables: garlic, onion, cabbage, red bell pepper salt curry powder (I used a Vietnamese one) soy sauce sugar sesame oil future topping ideas: runny egg, sesame seeds, green onion Saute the vegetables in avocado oil until softened, and salt them to taste Add the tofu and toss to...

Samosa Burritos

Imagine a pile of plain yogurt and some Indian pickle for dipping I saw a Pinterest recipe for samosa-filled quesadillas, which led me to  this recipe  from Nadia's Healthy Kitchen for baked samosas using tortillas, which led me to just use the giant tortillas I had in the fridge and make them into full-sized burritos. They were a hit! I largely followed the recipe from Nadia's Healthy Kitchen, but I added some potato, omitted the chana masala powder and just added a bunch of cumin instead, added bell pepper and fresh chilies, didn't bother with the "sealing paste," and basted them in a little bit of melted butter (omit for vegan version). Everyone except the 5-year-old liked them! The Recipe (adapted from  Nadia's Healthy Kitchen ) 2 cans (30 oz total) cooked garbanzo beans, rinsed (I eyeballed the equivalent from dry beans) 1 small onion, chopped 4 garlic cloves, minced 1 thai chili, minced 1 bell pepper, chopped 1 potato, baked until soft (or microwaved for...

Kitchen renovation!

BEFORE: AFTER: Still to come: a beautiful new induction range and some wood shelving on the left side, above the backsplash. And maybe the shelving unit on the wall facing the cabinets should be green, but we're going to live with a while before making that decision.