Crawfish Etouffee

Picture
Ingredients
6 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup onion, 1/2 inch dice
1/2 cup green bell pepper, 1/2 inch dice
1/2 cup celery, 1/2 inch dice
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups crawfish tails
6 tablespoons crawfish fat or butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/3 cup green onion tops, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon parsley, minced
1 cup fish stock or cold water.

Directions
  1. Melt the butter over low heat in a heavy pot.
  2. Gradually add the flour and cook over low heat until a medium brown roux is formed.
  3. Add the onion, green pepper, celery, and garlic. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
  4. Add the crawfish, crawfish fat, salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon juice, green onion, and parsley; mix well.
  5. Add the fish stock or cold water. Bring to a boil, and simmer 5-8 minutes, stirring frequently. Set aside.
  6. To serve, heat the etouffee slowly over low heat, thin with hot water if needed. Serve over boiled rice.

Critique
Chef: crawfish cooked beautifully, consistent knife cuts, flavor is good; has a nice seafood quality. It is  a little thin and could be darker.

Personal/Team: this was my favorite dish made today. I like how prevalent the crawfish is and the rich flavor. I also enjoy how colorful this dish is, you get a lot of color from the crawfish, green peppers and the roux and they all look nice together.

Lesson Learned:  Creole cooking generally uses a dark roux, cooking it darker develops the flavor more and makes a richer color, but it has less thickening power the darker it is.