Crawfish Etouffee

Total Time: 40 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (remove about 1 tablespoon)
• 1 yellow onion, finely diced
• 1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
• 1/4 cup finely chopped celery
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups water (or more)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 small bay leaf
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• pepper
• black pepper
• cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon cajun seasoning or 1 teaspoon creole seasoning
• 1/2 cup green onion, finely sliced
• 2 lbs crawfish tails, peeled cleaned with fat and juices (about 4 cups)
• hot cooked rice, for serving
• chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Recipe

• 1 have all ingredients ready before you start cooking.
• 2 make the roux. in a heavy pot, melt the butter over medium heat. add the flour and stir to combine. lower the heat and continue to stir constantly until roux becomes a brown color. this should take about 20 minutes. do not walk away while cooking at any time. should the roux burn, start over for it is unusable.
• 3 once the roux is finished, add to the pot the chopped onion and bell pepper. stirring continuously, cook about 5 minutes until soft. add the garlic and the 1 tablespoon tomato paste. stir to combine.
• 4 add the basil, thyme, ground peppers and creole seasoning. to the mixture add 3 cups water and stir. simmer on low for about 10 minutes, stirring (from the bottom of the pot) frequently. adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, if necessary.
• 5 stir in the green onions and crawfish tails; heat through on low heat, about 10 minutes. add additional water, if necessary.
• 6 serve with hot cooked rice and garnish with chopped parsley.