Something about hurricane season and our bell pepper abundance made me crave étouffée. It's difficult to get crawfish in West Virginia right now so I opted for the best shrimp and crab I could get at our local Food Lion which is the only grocery store around for 45 minutes.
Recipe Video Here!
This dish is so simple but also decadent and delicious. Étouffée translates to "smothered" or "suffocated" and it is, in a buttery, roux based sauce. Cajun and Creole households make it differently; because of my family's lineage in Louisiana, I know the Cajun version. Part of me wanted to add tomatoes just to use up some of my harvest but I couldn't do it! It just wouldn't be right!
Again, I used chicken bone broth to add a certain thickness and silkiness to the sauce. You really can't beat the texture bone broth adds to a dish! For the crab I highly recommend claw meat, you want larger chunks that won't fall apart too easily when you're stirring. For the shrimp, I buy wild caught Argentine pink shrimp, they're big and so sweet; I think they taste like tiny lobsters.
Recipe serves 2 in 30 minutes!
Ingredients:
- 8-10 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 4 oz crab claw meat
- 1 green bell pepper, finely diced
- 1/2 red onion, finely diced
- 1 garlic clove, sliced
- 1-2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning (season with your ❤️)
- 2 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 tablespoon AP flour
- 1 1/2 cups chicken bone broth (seafood or veggie stock works too)
- 1 cup steamed, long grain rice
- 1 green onion, finely sliced
Directions:
1. Chop veggies, clean shrimp
2. Sauté bell pepper and onion in half of the butter for just 3-4 minutes
3. Add second tablespoon of butter and flour; stir well for 2 min to make a light roux
4. Add garlic, stir 30 seconds, don't brown the garlic
5. Add bone broth and seasoning, now is the time to taste for salt and seasoning. Remember it will get a little more salty and spicy as it simmers!
6. Simmer 10-12 min until thickened, stir often
7. Add crab and shrimp, simmer until shrimp are cooked through, just 3 minutes or so
8. Serve 2 portions over 1/2 cup scoop of rice each and garnish with green onions
If you haven't had étouffée... you must try it. You're tasting New Orleans, you're tasting centuries, you're tasting a melting pot of cultures. You're tasting your Pawpaw or Mawmaw's love-filled home cooking and it's just so warm and lovely. There's nothing like it.
The sauce is really just a base, you can use this roux based sauce for any protein. Crawfish is traditionally used so if you can find some tails, have at it! Crawfish tails impart a pretty red hue to the sauce when its cooking. If you aren't into shellfish or seafood, throw in chopped, cooked chicken instead! I bet a turkey étouffée with leftover Thanksgiving turkey would be delicious... BRB, writing that down!
This recipe is for two people but it's easily doubled or tripled depending on how many folks you're trying to serve. I usually make this dish for special occasions because it's SO RICH but you do you boo!
I hope you enjoy this recipe! Follow me on social media @LizaHomesteads for more recipes and tag me or DM me pics/video if you try any of them! I want to know how they worked out for you!
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