I am not from New Orleans.
But I do love me some Cajun/Creole food!!!
The test kitchen had recently given me some andouille sausage and a bit of crab and, as you well know, with crab, Time Is of The Essence. So I decided to try my hand at an étouffée. It wouldn’t be classic, but the general parameters would be respected.
I looked up about 20 recipes… Read them… Put them away and got to work.
I heated 1/4C oil with 1/4C flour and cooked the roux for about 15 minutes until it was a light milk chocolate color. (Very dark roux are for other dishes, I learned.) To this I added the world famous trinity: chopped onions, celery, and green peppers. I let this cook away for another 5-7 minutes and then added chicken stock.
While this bubbled gently, I sautéed 2 sliced andouille until just starting to brown and then added them to the simmering roux/vegetable mixture. In went some smoked salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, and a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce. I also had a small piece of chicken breast in the fridge, so I cut that up and tossed it in along with about 1/2C of chopped parsley.
I made a pot of rice…
http://www.thisoldchef.com/blog.html/perfect_rice/
Seconds before serving, I added the crab... tasted for seasonings... grated a bit of lemon zest (why not)… pressed some rice into a ramekin… unmolded that into a hot serving bowl… and surrounded the rice with a moat of étouffée (the traditional way it’s served). I topped it with sliced scallions and more parsley.
Guess what? Not only was I ridiculously proud of myself, I’m willing to bet people from NOLA would have been pleased with this bowl o’ étouffée!
PS. I did serve Tabasco on the side… when in Rome…