Shrimp Etouffee

Degree of Difficulty: Intermediate
Total prep/cooking time for all components: 2 1/2 hours

I was introduced to Etouffee in New Orleans during my first Mardi Gras visit, way back at a point in my life when it was perfectly normal for 5 dudes to pile into a car and drive for a total of 48 hours to spend the same number of hours awake and with a drink in each hand. Etouffee is kind of like gumbo, but it’s much thicker and served over rice. For me it is not only one of the most satisfying meals to make, it’s also incredibly tasty and hearty. From what I’ve read about the dish, Etouffee means ‘smothered’ in French…the French name makes sense since so much of the cuisine in N’awlins has heavy French influences. Traditionally the dish is made with crawfish, but crawfish are hard to find in Boston so I used shrimp as a substitute.

A few other notes about Etouffee. There seems to be quite a wide range of opinions on 2 of the components of this dish. First, the roux. What kind of roux should you use…blond or dark-brown or red? And then when you talk about roux, what fat should you use…butter or oil? And what proportion of fat to flour do you use? Ugh, too many choices. I’ve made this dish twice, once using a blonde roux and the most recently using a much darker roux. Take the extra time to make the dark roux…it’s worth it…and I used the same proportion of oil to fat. Use oil because if you were to subject butter to such a lengthy cooking time, there’s a greater chance that it’ll burn, thus ruining the roux. The other point of contention seems to be around the issue of tomatoes…do tomatoes have a place in a traditional Etouffee or not? I like tomatoes and always have some in the house, so I add them, I don’t care if it’s not traditional. The tomatoes cook down so much during the process, you’ll hardly notice anything more than a nice tomato essence in the dish (so I suppose you could get by without them if you’re a purist). Ok, enough talk, on to the recipe.

1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 large onion – chopped in 1/4 inch pieces
3 celery ribs – chopped in 1/4 inch pieces
1 1/2 large green peppers – chopped in 1/4 inch pieces
2 lbs shrimp, deveined – make sure you buy shrimp that have the shells still on
2 tbsp creole seasoning
2 cups shrimp stock
3 cloves garlic – finely minced
2 tomatoes – chopped in 1/4 inch pieces
3 sprigs fresh thyme
a few good dashes of Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 cup green onions, green part only – chopped
3 tbsp Italian flat leaf parsley – very finely chopped
salt and black pepper to taste
1 recipe for creole boiled rice

There are a lot of components to this dish, so let’s start with the creole seasoning…I made my own.

Now that the seasoning is done, we can turn our attention to the shrimp. You want to remove the shells from the shrimp and place them into a medium sized (2 qt) saucepan. You are going to make shrimp stock with the shells. Once all the shrimp have been de-shelled, make sure that the nasty ‘vein’ is removed from the top of each shrimp. Note, that ‘vein’ is a pleasant way of saying poop-chute so you will definitely want to remove this. I don’t remember what size I shrimp I bought. They were small enough so that when I cut them in half, each piece became bite sized. Take the shrimp pieces and put them into a bowl with 1 tbsp of your freshly made creole seasoning, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge for now.

Next, you’re going to want to do all of the rest of your prep because once you start making the roux, it will require your undivided attention. The prep includes chopping all of the vegetables and getting your workspace organized. Doing all of your prep now makes sense because your shrimp stock needs time to cook. In fact, by the time your prep is done and the roux is done, your stock should be ready and will be needed in the dish.

Once all of your prep has been completed, it’s time to really begin cooking. As usual, the dutch oven is perfectly suited for this task. Actually, it’s one of the best tools to use when making a roux because the heavy iron used in it’s construction will allow for even heating, an essential when making roux. You’re going to need to give your roux 20 minutes of your undivided attention…and be prepared to spend most of that time stirring. I have a hard plastic spatula that is the best tool for this job because it does the best job of scraping the roux off the bottom of the pan and is a much more efficient tool than a whisk or spoon. Place the pan on a burner and set it to medium heat and let it heat up for a few minutes, then add the oil, then the flour, and begin your stirring odyssey. Trust me, it will be worth it. The dark roux will add thickening power and more importantly, a complex, almost nutty flavor to the final dish and color. My stove top is funky, so I had adjust up the heat and adjust it back down a few times so the roux wouldn’t cook too slowly or quickly. If you notice any black particles in the roux, you’ve got to start over, it’s burnt. Using a vegetable oil as opposed to butter makes it much harder for the roux to burn. Here is a shot of the roux after about 2 min of cooking:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here it is after 20 min:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once it achieves this color, add the onions, celery, green pepper and remaining 1 tbsp of your creole seasoning and cook over medium heat for about 10-15 min. You want the onions to be totally translucent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, slowly add the shrimp stock and mix well. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low to let the dish simmer. Right after you reduce the heat, stir in the tomatoes, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic. Let the dish simmer for about 30 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While this is simmering, make some traditional creole boiled rice to serve the Etouffee over. No, it’s not necessary to make the rice like this but I think it’s worth it. The texture of the creole boiled rice is not at all like the rice you get out of a rice cooker…the individual rice grains don’t stick together as much and overall the rice feels less dense and more fluffy. I love my rice-cooker rice, but for this dish it doesn’t seem quite right.

After the Etouffee has simmered for 30 minutes, add the seasoned shrimp, green onions, and parsley, mix well, and let the shrimp cook through, which shouldn’t take more than 10 min. Don’t turn the heat up. Once the shrimp are pink-ish in color, add salt and black pepper to taste and the dish is ready to be served over the creole rice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It’s worth the hassle, trust me.