I haven’t made Shrimp Etouffee in years.. I mean, nearly 10 years! I had a small incident with some contrast dye during a kidney x-ray several years ago (if you can call hives a small incident), which left everyone thinking I had a shellfish allergy. I had just had Shrimp Etouffee the night before, so I don’t know if that had anything to do with it, or if it was just a coincidence. In any event, fast forward to this year and a visit to an Allergist to figure out if I had a food allergy. It turned out that while I do have an allergy to wheat, I don’t have a shellfish allergy. All these years I’ve gone without eating any shellfish at all! I’m making up for lost time, so there will be more seafood posts in the future!
Back to the Shrimp Etouffee. The recipe I’ve always used is one from an old Emeril Lagasse cookbook. While he’s not a born and bred Cajun, he’s certainly adapted well to it. I like his recipes from his early cookbooks because they are more authentic. His newer books have a lot of his Portuguese influence meshed in them. I’m sure they are just as yummy, however, I want more authentic Cajun food, and the early books have it. My brother in law’s family is from Grand Isle, Louisiana, so I can get authentic recipes from him as well, but I’d hate to keep bothering him every other day when I get in a Cajun mood!
So here’s the recipe.. complete with photos. I hope you will give this one a try – it’s really good (the Hubs even says so!). 🙂
1 1/2 sticks butter (12 tablespoons)
4 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped bell peppers
2 cups chopped celery
2 tsp chopped garlic
2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbs flour
2 cups hot water
8 tbs chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped green onions
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, bell peppers and celery and saute until soft and golden, about 10 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add the shrimp, salt and cayenne pepper. Cook for about 4 minutes or until the shrimp turn pink.
Dissolve the flour in the water and add to the shrimp mixture. Stir until the mixture thickens slightly. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
This is where I deviate slightly from Emeril’s recipe. His recipe says to add the parsley and green onions and cook for 2 minutes longer. Since the Hubs and I both aren’t huge parsley fans, I leave it out and I wait until I serve it before I garnish it with the green onions.
A word about serving. In the recipe, Emeril says nothing about rice, but we know you can’t serve Cajun food without rice, right? So, another deviation in the Smedley household – we use Jasmine rice. Yep, you read that right. The same stuff you find in Thai and Chinese restaurants. And we cook it in a rice cooker (oh no!). We don’t have anything against regular rice, we just both happen to really like the fragrance and flavor of Jasmine rice, so that’s what we use. You can use whatever rice you’d like, just make sure it’s what you love.
So after you’ve cooked your rice (on the cooktop, in the microwave or in the rice cooker), place a bit in the bottom of your bowl. How much is up to you. I will say a little goes a long way. Ladle the Etouffee over the rice, and garnish with the green onions. Serve with some thick slices of french bread. Oh, and make sure you have something yummy for dessert too. We had Key Lime Pie (not Cajun but really nice after the spicy seafood). 🙂
Rolling in the Dough 