Happy Independence Day, my dear readers. I'm celebrating tonight with a classic dish of the American south, shrimp étouffée, a shrimp stew. The idea for this came two days ago, when, in an attempt to jazz up a boring bean dinner, I added celery, onion, and green bell pepper. The dish turned out well, and it occurred to me that I had the basic resources to craft some Cajun food - the "holy trinity," basically the Cajun version of the classic French mirepoix.
One thing I love about this recipe, aside from tasting great, is that it's the only time I've ever used the entirety of the shrimp. Having done some research before cooking, some suggest clam juice as a substitute for the homemade shrimp stock, but if time is not an issue I recommend this. If you, like me, are intimidated by the idea of making your own stock, remember you have to peel the shrimp anyway, so the extra effort is not significant. You can also keep the leftover stock for future meals; it would be great for wonton noodle soup.
- 3 tbs butter
- 3 tbs flour
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup crushed or diced tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cup shrimp stock (see below)
- About 18 raw shrimp
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Cayenne pepper to taste
- Herbs and spices to taste
Shrimp Stock
- Shells from (about) 18 shrimp
- 1/2 onion, sliced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 6 cups water
- Salt to taste
- Canola oil
Instructions
Start out by peeling the shrimp. Set aside the shells; do not throw them away. Put the shrimp in the refrigerator for now. Heat a little canola oil in a pot. Toast the shrimp shells for a few minutes. The smell of shrimp will really waft at this point. You can cut the vegetables for the stock while this is happening.
Add the water, onion, celery, and garlic. Bring to boil, then simmer for about an hour. When I did this, I actually started out with 8 cups of water and reduced it down to concentrate the flavor. You shouldn't need to do this if you start with less.
Strain out the vegetables and shrimp shells. Salt the stock to taste. I didn't find that it needed too much. You will end up with a lot more stock than you will end up using here. Keep the rest in the fridge.
About halfway through simmering the stock, you can start on the rest of the dish. Start by melting the butter in a Dutch oven or otherwise roomy cooking vessel. Whisk in the flour to form a roux. Cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add diced vegetables and cook until softened.
Pour in the shrimp stock and tomatoes, stirring to integrate. Season with salt, pepper, Cayenne, and whatever herbs and spices you like. I used a little oregano, parsley, and smoked paprika. Add they bay leaf and bring to boil. Pull back the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes. This is a good time to de-vein and clean the shrimp.
Add shrimp. Cover and cook until shrimp are cooked through, about 5-10 minutes. Be careful not to overcook, or the juicy texture will be compromised and give way to rubberiness. Remove bay leaf. Serve over white rice.
What a beautiful dish. It must be very nice for such a great idea to arrive so serendipitously. Such a coincidence that yesterday I bought a box of Cajun style (actually from China)cooked and frozen crawfish. I rinsed them to get rid of some of the cayenne pepper so it wouldn't be too spicey. Next, I put them in a large Dutch oven and boiled the entire box of rinsed crawfish with a bottle of dry white wine, some ground pepper, tomato paste, a large onion, diced tomatoes, lemon zest, saffron and ketchup. The flavor can be adjusted using some lemon juice and/or white wine for more acidity if needed. I used kitchen shears to cut up the crawfish to aid extraction of flavor. The color gradually got redder as the color of the shell started to comeinto the juice. I cooked it for about an hour, strained it and discarded the shells. The idea is to make a stock to use for saucing seafood, to use as a base for something like a lobster bisque or just for flavoring when an intense seafood flavor is needed. It is a lot better than a bottle of clam juice. On an on-going basis, I also deglaze any pan that I have pan-fried fish or shrimp and I would save the juice by putting it in a Ziplock bag. You can actually just start a bag in the freezer and add to the same bag every time you have more of this stuff. For my stock this time, I ended up with five Ziplock bags, each with about a cup and a half of this intense juice. I flattened the bags, drove the air out as much as possible and froze them. Freezing is a great way to keep this flavoeful extract. For Bastille Day, we plan to have the Connells and Lewis's over. I will be adding some cream to a bag of this stock to put on seared scallops or may be even quennelles. Your dish looked great. The flavor profile and the stuff you did is right on point. A little Dijon, whit wine and/or lemon juice may also highlight the dish with a bit of acidity. Nice job.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, have you ever used Wondras as a thickening? Instead of a roux, I often cheat with Wondras to reduce the amount of fat in a recipe. Try it. It works fine.
ReplyDeleteI use Wondra regularly. But this Cajun cuisine would not be right without the roux.
DeleteRoux is part of the Cajun tradition. I agree completely. New Orleans is a place that we may want to think about as a potential place for a little family vacation. There are fun things to do and see. The food is different but I have always found it to be a little too strongly flavored and too rich. It is still a distinct tradition to take note of. By the way, is some red pepper a part of etouffee or not? The flavor of green pepper is essential but red may add color. You made a fun dish, one that you can claim familial originality as I have never made etouffee. I have made gumbo once and I loved it. Mom didn't even touch it. Green peppers are not her thing.
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