Crawfish Étouffée--this one is so tasty!

[bif]

http://cookingwiththemark.blogspot.com
Ingredients
Crawfish (12-16 oz. package) thawed
3 T butter
4-5 T flour
1/2 C celery, chopped
1/2 C red pepper, chopped
1/2 C tomato sauce
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced
1 C green onions
4-6 C chicken or seafood stock
1/4 C dry sherry
Black pepper to taste
Dash of hot sauce (optional)

Directions
Chop up all the vegetables. Then, fry onions in olive oil in a large pan. When onion is translucent, add the garlic. Cook for a few minutes, then add remaining vegetables and cook until they're soft. Meanwhile, melt butter in a small skillet. Add flour until it's about the consistency of a thin pancake batter. Over a low heat, make the roux. You need to keep an eye on it to prevent it from burning. Whisk the roux frequently until it's a rich brown. You can tell when it's done by the smell and color. Add the stock, tomato sauce, black pepper, and sherry to the vegetables. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add crawfish and heat through. Pour some of this liquid to the roux and gently reheat it. Then add roux to the vegetables and crawfish and turn up the heat until it thickens. Top with green onions and serve over rice.

[Callalily]

1. I LOVE that stuff!

And luckily we can get crawfish locally! Just have to figure out when new shipments comes in!

[bif]

2. I'm sure they're even better fresh

Do they come shelled and ready to go?

[Callalily]

3. Nope . . . the whole critter still intact!