Recipe - Crawfish Etouffee

One half cup Oil or margarine
One half Flour
1 lg Onion; finely chopped
1 lg Celery stalk; finely chopped
3 Fat cloves garlic; minced
2 One half cup Fairly rich shrimp broth
1 tablespoon Lemon
One half cup Crawfish fat (substitute 34
tsp crawfish liquid or
crawfish stock)*
1 tablespoon Lemon juice
1 teaspoon Salt (omit if using crawfish
stock)
1 tablespoon Fresh parsley (1 t dried)
One half teaspoon Cayenne pepper
One half teaspoon Black pepper
One half teaspoon Thyme
1 Bay leaf
1 pound Frozen crawfish; all liquid
included
2 lg Scallion tops; cut or sliced up
Cooked converted rice

Make a medium dark roux by whisking the flour into the oil over medium heat
and cooking, stirring constantly, until the mixture is the color of
chocolate. Add the onion along with the celery and garlic, and sautee over
medium low heat until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Slowly add
the shrimp stock, and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, and add
lemon juice, crawfish fat/stock/liquid, and the spices. Simmer 15 minutes.
Add the crawfish and any liquid, bring to a rapid simmer, reduce to a low
simmer, add the scallions, and simmer just until the crawfish are tender,
about 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings. To serve, mound some rice in a plate,
and ladle some of the etouffee on top. This recipe makes about 4 servings.

Note: Crawfish fat gives the dish its characteristic flavor. In New
Orleans, it can be bought in the stores, but it's tough to find elsewhere,
so substitute. If you do find it, keep it refrigerated, as it is very
perishable. By crawfish liquid, I mean any run off from frozen crawfish.
Whenever you use crawfish for another reason (making Cajun popcorn, say),
you should save any liquid from the inside of the package that remains
after defrosting. This liquid is mainly water, but it will be orange in
color from the crawfish fat and meat. Finally, to make crawfish stock, take
a dozen or so crawfish heads left over from a crawfish boil, and cover with
some of the left over cooking liquid or water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a
simmer, and cook for several hours. At the end of simmering, strain the
stock, and reduce in half. Be careful when using this stock because it will
be very salty. Omit any salt from the recipe, and adjust at the end.
Posted to recipeludigest Volume 01 Number 254 by James and Susan Kirkland
kirkland@gj.net on Nov 13, 1997