I'm a cook. I like to cook. I read cookbooks. I have a bowl of recipes to try....and as if that wasn't enough, I'm swapping recipes with Ken. Which, I think will be a good thing. Why, you ask? Simple, I pull out of magazines, cookbooks, or where ever the SAME type of recipes. I know what I like and don't like, and I've found I cook basically the same stuff. Rarely stepping outside that very well know box. So recipe swapping with Ken will open that box just a tad.
Enter his first recipe: Crawfish Etouffe.
First, act of business was to look up with the hell "Etouffe" was...according to Ken and webster it's basically a stew.
Second, find out if I can substitute crawfish...ick. I have had the delight of experiencing crawfish when I was in Atlanta SEVERAL years ago. Little bastards...hated them. So I used shrimpees.
CRAWFISH ETOUFFE
1 stick butter
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green bell peppers
1 pound peeled crawfish tails
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of cayenne
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
3 tablespoons chopped green onions
In a large saute pan over medium high heat, melt the butter. Add the onions, celery, and bell peppers and saute until the vegetables are wilted. You want to get the veggies all caramelized. Add the crawfish, garlic, and bay leaves and reduce the heat to medium. Cook the crawfish for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Dissolve the flour in the water. You can do this right in the measuring cup but make sure there are no lumps. Mix this in and it'll help thicken the mixture. Season with salt and cayenne. Throw in as much essence as you think you can handle. Stir until the mixture thickens. Stir in the parsley and green onions and continue cooking for 2 minutes. Serve over steamed rice. Garnish with essence and some more parsley and green onions.
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I got home last night after being at the store and promptly started cooking. It was, thankfully, an easy recipe and had techniques and items with which I was familiar. And yet I found myself excited to be trying something I didn't find. Something recommended. I think there in lies one of the reasons it was an excellent meal.
I can't wait for the next recipe. Come on Ken, show me whatchu got!
Two slight changes to the recipe: 1) I didn't have rice so I used bow tie pasta...yum O. 2) I didn't use bell peppers. Dah!
2 comments:
I don't like crawfish, either. That sounds scrumptious once you make the substitution.
As I mentioned, you can substitute all kinds of stuff - chicken, veggies, peanut butter... well, almost all kinds of stuff.
You make a good point about how this will show us some different kinds of recipes. I would never have tried yours had I just found it in a recipe book and I loved it, so I was glad I did.
New recipe next week! Can't wait!
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