Crawfish Etouffee recipe request

I have used this one and found it to be very good. Marc Savoy is from Eunice, La. a musician and accordian builder and a great cook.

Contributed by Sarah Savoy, who says:
"Some people make this dish with a roux, which makes it a much heavier meal. This is my Dad's recipe. It allows the flavor of the crawfish to take the lead."


4 ounces oil
2 pounds crawfish tails (or you can use shrimp)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons cayenne
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 bunch scallions, tops only, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
2 teaspoons minced parsley
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 small 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1 cup (8 ounces) water
Place the 4 ounces of oil in a thick, cast-iron skillet or pot, add the crawfish, salt, pepper, and cayenne and cook over a high heat until the water is gone, stirring frequently. (This can take some time, especially if you are using frozen crawfish, which have a lot of water in them. If using shrimp, do not cook more than 10 minutes.)
About half an hour before serving, prepare some boiled rice. (Note: Please use real rice, the stuff that doesn't boil in a bag. We HATE that stuff!!) Use two cups of rice and three-and- a-half to four cups of water, a little salt, and boil, uncovered, over medium-high heat until the water boils off the top of the rice. Then, turn the heat to medium and continue to cook it, uncovered, until the rice around the rim of the pot starts to look dry. Turn the heat very low, cover, and cook for about seventeen minutes.

Add the onion, scallions, bell pepper, parsley, and garlic to the crawfish, lower the heat to medium-high, and cook 7 minutes stirring frequently.

Add the tomato sauce and cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add water, lower the heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Serve over rice.

YIELD: 8 portions.

im makin my first attempt at this soon so any more recipes would be greatly appreciated. i don't think ive ever had etouffee with tomato, i don't think im gonna mess around with that.

im thinking somethin like this:

brown onion, pepper, garlic in butter

add in a couple tbsp flour with water or stock
(how do you make stock? dont want to use store bought)

add in crawfish seasoned with cayenne and salt

simmer for a while and season adding green onions towards the end

any advice?
what seasonings do you add? should i use bay leaf?
how do you make seafood stock (can i even do this if i use frozen crawfish?) any help greatly appreciated

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how do you make stock? dont want to use store bought

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take a few pounds of shrimp peels, and simmer them in a few cups of water with thyme, onions, bell pepper, celery, salt and pepper. Simmer for 2-3 hours, then strain.

If you cook with shrimp, save the shells and use them to make a stock, you can always freeze the stock. Never let good shells go unboiled!

For chicken stock, I just use the carcass of a chicken i cooked with, add a few cups of water, thyme, onions, bell pepper, celery, salt and pepper. Simmer for 2-3 hours, then strain.

As for the suggestions, I agree that etouffee + tomatoes = creole or New Orleans.

cool.

mucho gracias!

the recipe that tavolatim posted is pretty close to what my family cooks; probably more tomato sauce than we use (only about 4 ounces) but overall pretty close.

i recently started using paul prudhomme's recipe and it is pretty good. he uses a roux but no tomato sauce in his etouffee; of course, i drastically reduce the amount of butter that prudhomme's recipe calls for because 2 sticks of butter is pretty outrageous (and unnecessary) in my opinion.

quote:

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No tomato sauce,
No soup mixes and no Roux.

Butter, trinity, stock and crawfish fat.
Thicken w/ cornstarch and water add fresh parsley and green onions.

The crawfish fat is the key to this dish.

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This is how I make my etouffee. It is easy and delicious. It is the recipe in River Roads II. Foolproof!

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where do you get crawfish fat if you are just buying frozen tails?

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I just use the fat that is in the bag of crawfish tails. Pour your stock in the bag to rinse the fat out of it and into the pot.

It is enough to give you that etouffee color and taste.

Now, if we are using tails left over from a boil, we always make sure to keep lots of fat while peeling.

just so happened my roommate got a buncha crabs today. im gonna use the shells for a stock. will be makin the etouffee this weekend or next week. im excited about it ill let the board know how it turns out