Louisiana Shrimp Etouffee

If you’ve visited Louisiana, hopefully you tasted Etouffee.  In French, the word “étouffée” (borrowed into English as “stuffed” or “stifled”) literally means “smothered” or “suffocated”, from the verb “étouffer“.^[1]

     Étouffée is similar to Gumbo, but it is more a stew than a soup, and is typically cooked with Cajun seasonings, and served over rice.  History has it that Crawfish Etouffee was a staple of the Cajuns in the bayous of Louisiana, and didn’t become popular in restaurants until the 1980s.  The traditional way is to make it with Crawfish, but Shrimp is also delicious.  We always serve it with a big crusty loaf of French Bread. 

     You can be sure that there are a lot of variations to making the perfect Etouffee.  Here is Bob’s recipe:

Ingredients

Two –12 Oz packages shrimp peeled and deveined (60-80 count)

1 cup oil

1 cup flour

1 large onion finely chopped

2 large stalks celery finely chopped

1 medium green pepper finely chopped

1 medium red pepper finely chopped

3-4 Tbsp minced garlic

1/4 cup butter

6 ounce tomato paste

*1 –  2 teaspoons fish sauce – Optional

Two 15 ounce cans chicken broth

1 cup plain water

2 chicken flavored bouillon cubes

* 1 teaspoon salt (eliminate if using fish sauce)

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon paprika (smoked if available)

1 Tbsp Creole Seasoning

Directions:

In a dutch oven make a ROUX stirring the oil and flour together and brown to the color of peanut butter. Do not brown too dark in color as you would with gumbo. 

Add onions, celery, garlic and green pepper, sauté until tender.

Mix melted butter and add tomato paste, blend until smooth.  Add to the ROUX. Stir until completely incorporated.

Pour in water with melted bouillon cubes, add chicken broth, and all seasonings. Add fish sauce.

Cook for 30 minutes.

Add shrimp and cook for 5 minutes before serving.

Serve over rice with a loaf of crusty French Bread on the side.

Serves 6-8.

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