Shrimp Étouffée
Traditionally made with crawfish, which are not commonly found outside the bayou areas of Louisiana and the deep South. But shrimp makes a good substitute.
Étouffée is a Cajun word meaning "smothered." "Smothered" is a southern manner of preparing food such that it is eventually left bubbling away in a rich cream gravy. The richness of the gravy in this case comes from starting it with a Cajun dark roux.
The difference between a French roux and a Cajun roux is that the French use butter. Butter has a relatively low smoking point and Cajuns like to cook their roux to a dark mahogany color for dishes like this, and therefore use vegetable oil which can stand up to the heat and the roundly fifteen minutes of cooking time it takes to make a dark roux.
Traditionally, this dish is made with crawfish tails and if you can find them cooked, just substitute them in this recipe. But I rarely see them outside of Louisiana and substituting shrimp works well. Crawfish have a similar texture to shrimp, but a different taste between shrimp and lobster, so they do make for a decidedly richer dish.
I've seen a lot of recipes on the Internet that include tomatoes in their ingredients, but this is not traditional to Cajun Étouffée. Cajun cooking rarely has tomatoes; this in fact is one of the defining characteristic differences between Cajun and Creole cooking. Tomatoes are specific to a Creole version of this dish which really makes it more kindred to what is commonly known, and that Kitchen Tapestry has a recipe for, Shrimp Creole.
Shrimp Étouffée
Ingredients
- 1 lb cooked shrimp, peeled, de-veined and tails removed
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 1 medium green bell pepper, finely diced
- 3-4 stalks celery, finely diced
- 1 tbsp garlic, minced
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter
- 6 tbsp vegetable oil
- 6 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp Spanish style paprika
- 1 tsp marjoram
- 1 tsp thyme
- 3 tbsp fresh or dried chopped parsley
- 1/8 tsp Tabasco Sauce
- 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
- pinch cayenne pepper
- juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
- 2-3 green onions, chopped including the green stems, for garnish
- 4-6 cups white rice to accompany the dish
Instructions
- Melt the butter over medium high heat in a large skillet. Sauté the onions until they become translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add the bell pepper and celery and sauté until limp, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another minutes. Remove all vegetables to a platter.
- Using the same skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat.
- Add the flour. Stir constantly for 12-15 minutes until the roux has turned a dark brown.
- Add the chicken stock and the heavy cream a little at a time, stirring constantly until a thickened, gravy is created. Return the onions, bell peppers, celery and garlic to the gravy.
- Add the Worcestershire Sauce, paprika, marjoram, thyme, parsley, salt and pepper. Bring the gravy to a gentle simmer and allow it to cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the shrimp and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the shrimp is heated through.
- Add the lemon juice at the last minute, stir well, and then spoon the shrimp and gravy over white rice. Garnish with the chopped green onion.
Notes
- Frozen shrimp thaw very quickly in a colander under cold running water, turning and tossing the shrimp frequently to get its cold water shower.
- Do this about 30 minutes prior to cooking, then wrap the shrimp in paper towels and put in the refrigerator to dry out before using.
