Shrimp Étouffée

Glady found a recipe in the paper for Shrimp Étouffée that looked fairly good but I modified it drastically and it still came out great. You can substitute crawfish for shrimp. ( I freeze some of the shrimp stock and use it in the crawfish.)

Ingredients

• Stock:
• Shells and tails from two pounds of medium shrimp
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium bell pepper, chopped
• 4 stalks of celery, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 sliced lemon
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper or peppercorns
• 1/2 tbls Zatarain's Creole Seasoning

Prepare Stock:

1. Peel shrimp. Put shells in saucepan. Set shrimp meat aside.
2. Add all other stock ingredients above to saucepan.
3. Pour cold water in saucepan to cover ingredients. About six quarts.
4. Bring to a boil.
5. Immediately after it starts to boil, lower burner to allow stock to simmer for about 45 minutes.

Ingredients

• Étouffée :
• 2 lbs of medium, peeled shrimp from above
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 1 medium bell pepper
• 4 stalks of celery
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 8 or so tablespoons of butter
• 1/4 cup of flour
• 2 cups of shrimp stock
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1/2 tbls Zatarain's Creole Seasoning
• 1 tsp of thyme
• 2 tsp worcestershire sauce
• Add hot sauce according to your taste.
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Instructions

1. Sauté onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic in about four tablespoons of butter until translucent.
2. Add the flour. Cook until flour turns a light brown.
3. Slowly add the stock to the pot. Constantly stirring.
4. Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer.
5. Add creole seasoning, thyme, tomatoes, worcestershire, hot sauce, salt and pepper.
6. Add remaining butter and shrimp.
7. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
8. Serve over rice.