After Boil Crawfish and Corn Stew [with pics]

[WARNING] - Contains tomatoes. Click away if this is not for you

Came home from a boil with a pound of crawfish tails and all of the leftover corn, so decided to try a crawfish stew. I made this similar to how I make chicken stew, except for the addition of corn.

I didn't have shells to make crawfish stock, so I just did chicken Better Than Bouillon+water. If I was planning this ahead of time, I'd have made crawfish stock.

First, make a roux. I went for a milk chocolate color. I don't want anything too black with seafood, but just a personal preference.



When the roux is done, add your trinity. I like red bell over green. Garlic went in after the trinity was softened a bit.



I've been reading the Mosquito Supper Club book and she mentions letting the onions cook down in the roux for an extremely long time in her stew dishes. She does 20 minutes and then adds the bell pepper and celery and does another 20, but I just did all 3 for 40. Also had a bay leaf in there.

The goal is having them disintegrate with no give.



Next, you add 4 cups of stock. I also did 3/4 of a can of crushed tomatoes. You don't need to add tomatoes if you want to keep it brown, and I was tempted to. But I have been experimenting more with using tomatoes in my traditionally brown dishes.

I also seasoned the dish here once it got to a rolling boil. Garlic powder, smoked paprika, onion powder, salt, pepper, thyme.. whatever you like, really.



Let this go for about half an hour. It will reduce and thicken some, but also allow the flavors to meld. Don't be afraid if it tastes roux-like at first. It takes time.

Add your crawfish boil tails and corn cut off the cobs. I had a good amount of corn, so mine is really corny.



I let that go for about 10 minutes. Enough to heat the tails and corn, but not turn them to mush.



And there you have it.