It has been a while since I last wrote a post. Life has been busy and writing suffered for it. That doesn't mean that I haven't been cooking and baking, we still need to eat after all, but proper inspiration had failed me and I reverted back to cooking the standard go-to recipes. Today, however, I got to talk with a dear friend who is thinking of moving to New Orleans. And that got the juices running.
New Orleans: exotic, relaxed and frantic at the same time, artistic, good music and (even better) food. A place I would love to visit, to taste its diversities and to hear its history. When I think of the food in New Orleans, the first thing that jumps to mind is their gumbo. To you and me, this is a stew. The locals, however, would say that gumbo is a whole food group on it's own. Who am I to argue...
But New Orleans is more than gumbo. Think about Po-Boys, King Cakes (served from 6th January through to Mardi Gras Day), beignets (those soft, fluffy, deep-fat-fried balls [squares] of dough, served with mounts of powdered sugar) or Jambalaya. But my favourite has got to be:
Crawfish Étouffée
Ingredients:
- 125 gram butter
- 2 medium onions, diced
- 1 stalk of celery, diced
- 1 pepper (red, yellow or green), diced
- 500 gram peeled crawfish tails or prawns
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 300 millilitre water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped spring onions
Method:
- Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium to high heat
- Add the onions, celery and peppers and fry for 10 to 12 minutes until the vegetables are soft and the onions are turning a light golden colour
- the holy trinity in all Creole cooking are onions, celery and peppers: much like onion, celery and carrot is in French cooking
- Add the crawfish tails (or prawns) and the bay leaves, reduce the heat to medium, and cook the crawfish until they start throwing off a little liquid
- this will be about 10-12 minutes, but less if you are using prawns
- Dissolve the flour in the water and add to the crawfish
- Season with salt and cayenne pepper to taste
- Stir the mixture until it begins to thicken, about 4 minutes
- Add the parsley and spring onions and cook for another 2 minutes
- Remove the bay leaves and serve over cooked rice
This is not my longest post ever, I am still trying to catch my breath, but I do hope you will
Enjoy
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