Shrimp stew with eggs dropped in

She was Cajun and made tomato based shrimp stew. That just is not right. Shrimp stew quick way to say is gumbo with a lot less water.

Sounds delicious.....the earliest tomatoes ripen just about when inshore brown shrimp season is in full swing, so I know plenty of Bayou Cajuns who make shrimp & tomato dishes in May/June. Shrimp & corn soup with tomatoes, tomatoes stuffed with shrimp salad, shrimp sauce piquante, etc etc.

Grandmere probably made a light roux (probably with a little bacon grease or butter), stopped it from browning too much by adding onions, then when the onions were brown, she added bell pepper and celery.....after the veg are soft, chopped fresh tomatoes, water, and bay leaf/parsley/thyme or whatever tickled her fancy and was growing nearby (a slug of Worcestershire or fish sauce is nice at this point). After the tomatoes cooked down a bit (say, 20-25 minutes), she probably added peeled fresh shrimp, green onions, hot sauce or cayenne pepper, etc.

I like a little diced, smoked pork (whether tasso, smoked sausage, bacon) added along with the tomatoes. If you want to be restaurant fancy, use shrimp stock in place of the water. But most rural cajun grandmas didn’t bother with a separate seafood stock—they just used more seafood in the dish than a restaurant would ever use, so no need to layer in the flavor with a stock.

My favorite egg addition: halved hardboiled eggs floated in a crawfish etouffee. The egg whites soak up all the good crawfish flavor and color.

I got you Baw.

1st you make a roux of butter and flower. 1 stick butter for every 2 lbs shrimp. Get roux to light/medium brown.

Add trinity and garlic. Cook down. Add a can of diced tomato (or rotel if you prefer)
Don’t let roux burn. Add a little stock to help if needed

Add seafood stock (preferable made from shrimp heads) . Don’t add all stock at once. Do it a bit at a time to make a slurry, after slurry is soupy, add all the stock.

Add a teaspoon of tomato paste (more if you are making a big batch or want it redder)

Add Cajun seasoning as needed. A little too salty is good, shrimp and egg will soak that up.

Bring this to a boil then cut to low and cover for 45 minutes (it should be plip-plopping not roll boiling)

Option 1:
Taste the seasoning again, crack your eggs in. Let sit for 10-15 minutes DO NOT STIR!!!

Add shrimp, roll them in. Let sit and serve


Option 2:

Taste seasoning again, add shrimp.
When shrimp are done, add boiled eggs.

Let sit for 10 minutes and serve


I’ve seen people do both. I do option 2 because I’m scared to frick it up.


Cook the rice baw


Note: Youll need about a 6 pack+ to make this.

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Your Creole grandmother you mean ?

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A lot of prairie Cajuns make a reddish shrimp stew

I do it in gumbo. I just get worried about it in the Stew

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Lord, not this crap again. Look, plenty of Cajuns use tomatoes just as profligately as so-called Creoles.

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Amen, sister!

Confirmed. From VP. Brown Rotel with my aromatics.

Yessssss
Roux > tomatoes though.

Yep. To me shrimp and tomatoes just don't mix.

My family (from Vermilion parish) sometimes put a can of Rotel in stews. It's still roux based and brown in color. We also boil our eggs first and then throw them in.