Crawfish Etoufee

Maybe it was LSU's awesome win over Alabama on Saturday.  Maybe it was my excitement over my upcoming trip to New Orleans.  Maybe it's just homesickness; I don't know.  Whatever it was, I decided to make some crawfish etoufee last night, and it was quite good.  The recicpe is an old one from The Times Picayune; I cut the original recipe in half (I'm posting the half), and it could feed 3-4 people.  One serving is SO filling!  You serve the etoufee over rice, and you really only serve some crusty bread and maybe a salad with it. 

It's not exactly crawfish season (that's more in the spring and summer), and it's not like we get many of them in Georgia anyway, but I bought some frozen crawfish tails over the summer and used one a pound in this recipe.

The recipe says to season the finished product with salt and cayenne.  If you're afraid of cayenne pepper, just go with freshly ground black pepper.  It needs quite a bit of salt.  I was hesitant to season the whole pot just in case I put in too much or more than Bizzuck might like, so we seasoned our own bowls. 


Crawfish Etoufee

1/2 stick butter
3/4 cup chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 pound peeled crawfish tails
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup water
Salt and cayenne pepper to taste
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp chopped green onion (green part only)
White rice

Heat the butter in a large, heavy pot over medium heat.  Add the onions, bell peppers, and celery; cook, stirring until soft and lightly golden, 8-10 minutes.  Add the crawfish and cook, stirring occasionally, until they give off a little liquid, another 8-10 minutes.  Add the cornstarch-water mixture and reduce heat to medium-low.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens, about 8 minutes.  Season with salt and cayenne.  Remove from heat.  Serve over rice, and garnish with parsley and green onions.