Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Adventures in Cooking


Last night, out of nowhere, I decided that I need to try to cook a shrimp étouffée. 


Not something I know how to do, but I can make a roux, and even though we didn't have two parts of the southern trinity -- bell peppers and celery -- I did have onions and garlic.


Generally, one makes the roux -- flour and butter, in more or less equal parts -- and cooks the trinity separate, marrying them with the protein in a threesome and adding other bits. Crawfish is even tastier, by hard to come by up here. 


Because I had a large skillet, I was able to cook the onions and garlic -- finely chopped -- shove them to the side, make the roux, and mix 'em together in the same pan. I did what is called a blond roux -- you can cook it anywhere from white to almost black, and blond is good for this kind of dish.


To this, I added a pound of peeled shrimp, some diced tomatoes and water, and seasoning, primarily Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning. (That's pronounced "Sah-shoo-ray.") Along with some pepper and salt. 


Doesn't take long, under thirty minutes from start to finish, not counting the rice, over which you ladle the shrimp.


This is is a keeper, something I'd do for company ...

7 comments:

Ed said...

Looks good - can almost smell and taste it. You're in good Crawfish country - a crawdad trap, some bait for it and throw it in pretty much any river or stream in Oregon and you'll get some. Even Fanno Creek has them. Or if you want to get wet - you can turn over rocks. Did you do some of that in Louisiana as a kid?

When younger I caught them in a bunch of Oregon coastal streams and the Tualatin and Yamhill. Next time you go to Florence put one in above Mapleton in the Siuslaw and you should get a bunch - I read it was good.

Check out this site - http://www.terrybullard.com/CrawfishMain.html- click on the history button - I didn't know Lake Billy Chinook had so many crawfish. Then again, most waters seem to have them.

Steve Perry said...

The crawfish up here taste funny. I've tried them several times, and it's not just that nobody here knows how to cook them properly, it's something in the critters themselves. Probably the lack of pollutants ...

Ed said...

The Yamhill and Tualatin should have some good pollutants in them -the Tualatin was really bad at one time.

J.D. Ray said...

At the cafe, we found that you can make up a large batch of roux and refrigerate it. Of course, we go through it fast enough to warrant making it a couple pounds at a time, but it should freeze just fine, too. But, instead of the typical tablespoon of butter, tablespoon of flour, if you use half a cup of each, cook it to preference, then put it away, it speeds sauce making later. Just a thought.

Steve Perry said...

Good idea, J.D. -- I never thought of that.

Steve Perry said...

Ed --

Back home, the swamps tend to glow in the dark. Stuff has been being dumped there since Standard Oil showed up ...

Ed said...

It definately is down stream there in gator country - I can't imagine what makes it's way into the swamps on purpose or otherwise - hopefully it can still filter some. The Standard Oil - or anyone else that pollutes - owners/board members/stockholders should be made to use the resources they use or abuse - maybe they would take better care of it.