Crawfish Etouffee

I’m so proud to present this recipe; this is seriously good and better than the restaurant that I went to in New Orleans. Taste is fresh and clean.  It wasn’t hard to prepare, but it takes a little time to make and totally worth it!!! 

I changed his recipe a little bit because I’m not a fan of Old bay seasoning. I used Louisiana crawfish boil seasoning mixed with Slap ya mama cajun seasoning and I didn’t measure exactly what he called for in the recipe; I just added a little bit at a time and tasted it.  I added sugar to cut down the strong spicy flavor from Cajun seasoning and that gave it a milder taste.

Ingredients: (2-3 servings)

• 1 pound crawfish tails - or peeled shrimp. Other versions include: Crab, Scallop, Sausage or Chicken. Or combine a couple of them.
• 1 ¼ stick of butter, divided
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 stacks of celery, diced
• 1 bell pepper (any color), diced
• 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 3 green onions, sliced. (use white and light green parts)
• 1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped
• 3 bottles of Clam juice (8 oz) – Reserved ½ cup of clam juice to mix with cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons of cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon of Louisiana crawfish boil seasoning - optional ( I mixed with Slap ya mama Cajun seasoning)
• 2 whole bay leaves
• Louisiana hot sauce, salt, sugar and black pepper to taste - optional
• Steamed white rice, for serving

 

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, melt 1 stick of butter and sauté onions, garlic, celery, bell pepper and tomatoes for 10-12 minutes or until they are cooked down.

 

  2.    Add 2 ½ cup clam juice, crawfish and 2 bay leaves to cooked veggies.  Seasoning with hot sauce, salt, sugar and black pepper, reduce heat to a low simmer uncovered for 20- 30 minutes.

3.  Add sliced green onion and chopped parsley into the pot of veggies and crawfish.  In a small bowl mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch and ½ cup clam juice mix well; add into the pot of veggies and crawfish, stir constantly until blend well.  Let is cook for about five more minutes over low heat.
 

 
4.  Just before serving, add ¼ stick of butter to sauce and stir until melted.  Also, discard bay leaves.

5. Sever over white rice.

 

 

Thank you Chef Tony Matassa for awesome recipe!!   Here is his link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnG_6M1EbVE&feature=player_embedded#! and here is his blog 

http://the99centchef.blogspot.com/2011/08/crawfish-etouffee-recipe-cajun-cuisine.html