by 
 |
| From Nola Cuisine |
As much as I love the spring Crawfish Boil, I always look forward to having some leftover Crawfish tail meat to play with for later use. After my spring boil I had a fair amount of Crawfish leftover so I sat down with a cold beer after our guests had left, relaxed and picked all of the tail meat as well as the fat from the heads.
This is one of those tasks that is actually a very therapeutic process for me, like peeling shrimp, or making roux, where you can just sit or stand there and enjoy the silence and repetition of the task at hand, let your brain go and think about whatever; kind of like sleep without the bad dreams.
 |
| From Nola Cuisine |
I ended up with about 2 pounds of tail meat, the perfect amount for a nice batch of Crawfish Etouffee. I made a batch of Crawfish Stock from the shells and vacuum sealed the tails and fat for later use.
 |
| From Nola Cuisine |
 |
| From Nola Cuisine |
Which brings me to lunch today.
The smell of Crawfish Etouffee or Shrimp Etouffee (my recipe), makes me more nostalgic for Louisiana than any other dish I can think of, even above Gumbo and Red Beans. I arrived home from work tonight to sit down and write this post and was met with the aroma of Etouffee still hanging out in the house, heavenly.
The real key to this recipe as with my Shrimp Etouffee, is the stock. Seafood stocks are simple and require a very short cooking time yielding great results.
This recipe leans a little more to the country than my Shrimp Etouffee Recipe, although they are similar, neither shy with the butter, but this one doesn’t use tomatoes. I hope you enjoy it!
The recipe:
 |
| From Nola Cuisine |
Crawfish Etouffee Recipe
2 Tbsp Creole Seasoning **Please Note! This recipe is based on my homemade Creole Seasoning! If you use Tony C’s or any others it will turn out much too Salty!!!!)
4 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
1 1/2 Cup Onion, Finely Chopped
1/4 Cup Celery, Finely Chopped
1/2 Cup Bell Pepper, Finely Chopped
2 lbs Crawfish Tail meat
1/4 Cup Flour
1 1/2 to 2 Cups Crawfish Stock
1/4 Cup Minced Garlic
2 Tbsp Fresh Thyme Leaves, chopped
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp Hot Sauce (I like Crystal or Louisiana Gold)
1/2 Cup Green Onions, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp Italian Parsley, minced
3 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt
1 Tbsp fresh Lemon Juice
1 Recipe Creole Boiled Rice
Melt the butter in a large cast iron skillet, add the onions, bell pepper, celery, and 1 Tablespoon of the Creole seasoning, saute until translucent. Add the Crawfish tail meat, the remaining Creole seasoning and saute until the tails let off some of their liquid, cook for 3-5 minutes more. Add the flour, stirring constantly for about 3-5 minutes.
Add a small amount of the crawfish stock, stir well to form a paste, add the remaining stock gradually, whisking constantly. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. You may need a little more stock, but the end result should be the consistency of a gravy, not too thick, not too thin.
Add the garlic, Thyme, Worcestershire, and hot sauce, a little salt, black pepper. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.
Add the green onions and parsley, simmer for 5-10 minutes more.
Stir in the 3 Tbsp butter, lemon juice, and adjust the seasonings to taste.
Serve over Creole Boiled Rice.
Serves 4 as an Appetizer or 2 as a large entree.
 |
| From Nola Cuisine |
Related Posts:
Shrimp Etouffee Recipe
Crawfish Boil Recipe
Crawfish Stock Recipe
Live Louisiana Crawfish Recipe
Shrimp Stock Recipe
Shrimp Creole Recipe
Be sure and check out my ever growing Index of Creole & Cajun Recipes which provides links to all of the recipes featured on this site!
by
Looks great Danno. A true old fashion ettouffee. Something you do not encounter in restaurants down here anymore. Only at home
Oh…my…god.
The last I made Etouffee, it was a bust! I have a wonderful recipe handed down to me, from my husband’s grandmother. It’s so yummy… Well, when I was handed this recipe, I made a big stink to have lots of people over for a big pot of it. I made the etoufee and it looked like the best thing in the world. It did however smell a little funny when I took the lid off the pot. I just thought that maybe it was the seafood smell that you get sometimes. I didn’t pay much attention to it. I called my husband in to have a taste with me, and we each gave ourselves a nice big spoonful. Well, once that etoufee reached our mouths, we realized that it was AWFUL!! The craw fish were no good! It was by far the grossest stuff I have ever put in my body.. I couldn’t serve it .My dad was trying to tell me that it wasn’t bad at all and that it was just me. However he would not eat any of it. I cried as I dumped the whole pot of stinky etoufee down the drain. I haven’t made it since, and that was over 2 years ago.. However looking at this recipe has inspired me to try it again. Hopefully I’ll be a little smarter when picking out my crawfish in the future!!
Sorry for the long babble!!
Damn Sam, that Etouffée sure looks good. Man If you could get food that good in New Orleans anymore, there’d be not shortage of tourists. I love your photography my friend.
RBD
Arthur – Thank you. It’s sad that restaurants have lost the touch, but I guess home is always where the traditions are preserved best.
Laurie – Sorry to do that to you, probably at work and hungry.
Jes – Crawfish are super perishable, like most shellfish, and as I always say, “Once you smell a bad one, its hard to be hungry for a good one anytime soon.”
I smelled a bad Dungeness Crab one time at a restaurant I worked at and have never looked at one again without thinking of that smell. I guess we need to remind ourselves why it was good in the first place.
Tim – Thanks man, I agree with you and Arthur that the Etouffee in restaurants is extremely sketchy these days, sad. I’m really not a good photographer, I just like taking pictures of food.
I just made your crawdad etouffee recipe with a little extra ingredients and was absolutly fantastic. Thank you for the great start and can’t wait to use more of your true Naw’lins cooking. I miss home.
Leaving in Daytona Beach Now
Christopher Scali
Born and raised in Louisiana, but now have been transferred to Chicago. Chicago’s a great city with great food…but there is no good down home cooking I am used to eating. I now order from cajungrocer.com I’m trying to turn everyone up here on down home cooking…what they have here…it is imitation…kinda like the potatoes without the meat, 🙂
Thank You for this recipe. I just finished making it. this is my first time ever trying to Creole/Cajun food. I made a few adjustments because i have never handled craw fish before so i made it with shrimp and since i didn’t have the stock then i used vegetable stock instead and just like Jes i didn’t want to make a mess with the craw fish besides i have no clue were to buy the lil bugger but my family likes it but it isn’t thick enough but all in all good first try
I found your website by chance today while looking for an etoufe recipe.
WOW! I will be using this recipe from now on. I grew up on real cajun food and absolutely love your etoufe. I also made the cajun seasoning you have on hear and again WOW! This site is now bookmarked, I think we will try the chicken and sausage gumbo tomorrow. Thanks for sharing. Oh my 7 yr old loved it also and he is the most picky eater I know.
Just made this for dinner – hubby works in Louisiana on an anchor handling supply boat in the Gulf of Mexico – and has native Cajuns to cook for him while he’s there. He wanted Crawfish Etouffee at home and I love a challenge, so I made your version after looking over quite a few. What a fabulous dinner!!! I’m currently printing out more of your recipes to keep my newly ‘Cajunized’ hubby happy! Well, and to be honest – I do love the spicy! Thanks for all the wonderful directions and the perfefct recipe! Keep up the good work!!
Great recipe – mine is very similar … however, don’t you think the crawfish
should be added closer to the end of the simmer, about 10 minutes before?
I’ve found if you add the mudbugs too early (thus cooking them 20+ minutes),
they will have a “rubbery” texture.
For an additional surprise, I add lump crabmeat
Thanks!
Love this recipe! Thank you so much!!! I’ve made it three times with varying degrees of hotness! We don’t have much availability for crawfish in my area, so I’ve used langostino tails from Trader Joe’s. Our entire family just loves it, my 3 and 5 year olds, included!
I love the foods of New Orleans! It is true American cuisine. I make Gumbo often ( as wellas BBQ shrimp and etoufee). I like to buy the crawfish whole so I can make the stock from the shells.
This recipe looks amazing! I love the Cajun flavors of Louisiana. We are big fans of your site here at How2Heoes.
I’ve been using this blog for a while. Super insight, mostly sort of follow.
Picked up 4 lbs of live crawfish today, doing mostly this etouffee. Smells awesome, about to eat.
Thanks, keep it up, blah blah, troubles come, troubles go, gotta eat, might as well eat really wlle!1
Thanks
This is much like mama (born in Ville Platte, LA) made hers tho, like all great Cajun cooks, she followed no recipe. Thank you
Recipe/photo looks delicious!
My mother (a native of New Orleans), made the best Etouffee with chicken.
Sometimes she would add shrimp and or Andouille sausage.
All you had to do was sit down and eat it. You did not have to add anything, no hot sauce, salt, or anything Lol! Delicious!!
Can this recipe be substituted with chicken?
Thanks afor a great reminder of my childhood eating!
This is an amazing recipe! The only thing I did different was use shrimp instead of crawfish since I couldn’t find it. Will make it again the authentic way! Please keep sharing!
Wow. I’ve been using your recipes for a few years now, and the recipes (when followed faithfully) damn-near killed me. This etouffee is my favorite. I’m looking forward to trying the roast beef po’ boy and muffuletta, though I’m nervous about baking the bread. Still, I have no doubt you’ve steered me in the right direction. Thanks tons for showing us out-of-towners a way to enjoy the flavors of N’awlins at home.
This was the third recipe that I have tried in my attempt to quench my etouffee craving. I have no need to look any further. This is the best by far.