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Cooking Cajun style By Kady Guyton
A hankering for Cajun food and the desire to not make dinner for a couple days inspired me to go through my small collection of Cajun recipes until I landed on shrimp etouffe. An entire book could be written about Cajun cuisine - and many excellent ones already have been, so I'll just hit the high points. Going forward, if you think of Cajun food as French cuisine's rowdy cousin, then you'll be on the right track no matter what you toss in the pot. The majority of Cajun dishes begin with the Trinity: onion, celery and green peppers. In my opinion, as someone who's both a chef and possessing of taste buds, green peppers are vile. They are under-ripe bell peppers that taste nothing but bitter to me. However, in a dish like this with lots of of other spices and flavors, they have their use. Roux (pronounced "rue") is another key point to many Cajun and French dishes. In classic French cooking there are just three types of roux: white, blonde and brown. In Cajun cuisine the rouxes range from white to brown, red and occasionally blue. A roux is equal parts flour and warm fat. The fat can be anything from olive oil to butter, but heat and equal parts of each are the key. A cook with time on their hands can make up roux in advance, freeze in small amounts and have some on hand any time something needs to be thickened. That technique isn't needed here, but it's a good trick to keep in mind when cooking for a crowd. Etouffe is French for smothered, roughly. Basically it comes down to stuff with sauce and rice. It's also a good example of a dish with layers of flavor. The onion, pepper and celery go in first so they have time for the sharpness to mellow. The spices go in at the halfway point so they can blend together without getting lost entirely and tasting faded. This dish does have a kick to it. Whatever you do, do not decide that it needs to be hotter and double the cayenne pepper. The cayenne will stage a riot and take over the entire pot. Serve it with the bottle of hot sauce on the table and let the individual diners determine their own comfort level. Shrimp stock is a key component in this version of etouffe. Take the time to make your own. It's quite simple and will take about forty-five minutes - which is enough time to get all the ingredients together for the etouffe. Trying to buy pre-made fish stock locally will make you crazy, so just do it yourself. The recipe is included below. Shrimp and crawfish are the two traditional ways to make etouffe. I've also had it with catfish and it was wonderful. The spices did a great job of minimizing the sometimes muddy flavor that catfish can have. If allergies are an issue, finely diced chicken would be a fine substitute, just use chicken stock in place of the shrimp stock. Serve with a very chilled white wine and lots of steamed rice and zydeco music. Shrimp Etouffe Season the shrimp with 1 tablespoon of Creole seasoning. Melt butter in a large skillet or stock pot. Add the onions, bell pepper and celery. Saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add in flour and stir until roux is blonde in color, 3-5 minutes. Add in remaining Creole seasoning. Stir in a small amount of stock and stir to form a paste. Add in remaining stock and whisk out any lumps. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. The mixture should be smooth and the consistency of gravy. Add tomatoes, garlic, thyme, worcestershire, hot sauce and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Simmer for 20-25 minutes. Add the shrimp, green onions and parsley. Simmer for 10 more minutes or until the shrimp are pink and curled. Add remaining butter and adjust seasonings to taste. Shrimp Stock Add all ingredients to a 2 qt. saucepan. Cover this with cold water, it should be about 6-8 Cups Cups. Bring almost to a boil, reduce the heat to a low simmer. Simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour. Strain. Use immediately or freeze in an airtight container. |
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