Homemade Crawfish Étouffée

I haven’t shared a recipe in a while and wanted to remedy that.

This recipe calls for 2 pounds of cooked, peeled crawfish tails.  I realize crawfish can be pretty pricey.  For this reason alone, this is a dish that we enjoy when crawfish goes on sale at our local grocery store … and we enjoy it immensely.   If you’re not sure if crawfish tails are available in your area, check your local Walmart.    If you still have no luck, you can buy the meat online at Cajun Grocers.

By the way, I discovered this recipe in Southern Living magazine.

Crawfish Étouffée

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 medium onion, minced

2 celery ribs, minced

1 medium green bell pepper, minced

4 garlic cloves, minced or 2 teaspoons prepared garlic

1 large shallot, chopped (I’ve left this out before when I didn’t have one, and the dish was still delish.)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground red pepper (adjust as necessary for your taste)

2 cups chicken broth prepared from bouillon or a 14 1/2 ounce can of prepared chicken broth

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (optional)

1.4 cup chopped fresh chives (optional)

2 pounds (or thereabouts) frozen cooked crawfish tails

Hot cooked rice

In a dutch oven or other large pot, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, and shallot.  Saute 5 minutes or until tender.

Add flour, salt and red pepper and cook, stirring constantly, until caramel colored (about 10 minutes).

Add next 3 ingredients and cook, stirring often, until thick and bubbly.  This will take about 5 minutes or so.

Stir in crawfish and cook 5 minutes or so until thoroughly heated.

Serve with rice.