Thursday, November 17, 2011

Recipe Revisited: Shrimp Étouffée


Tonight, I made Shrimp and Grits and remembered I've been meaning to post about the incredible Shrimp Étouffée I made a few weeks back. This dish has undergone a few different iterations throughout my long and illustrious nine month culinary career. During the strictly vegetarian days of this blog, I substituted tempeh and seitan for the shrimp (with delightfully yummy results). Recently, however, I've been on a major shrimp kick, so it was time to meat up (please tell me in the comments how stupid you think that phrase is).

Shrimp Étouffée
Original Post
Adapted from Paula Dean's Recipe
Servings: 4
Time: 60 minutes

15 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 lb okra, sliced
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp Tony Chachere's cajun seasoning
1/2 cup scallions, minced
1/4 cup parsley leaves, minced
3/4 cup white wine
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes and juices
2-3 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp butter
Tabasco to taste

Progression of the wonderfully aromatic roux
  1. Combine the flour and oil over medium heat to form the roux. Stir frequently until it turns into a caramel color (see above) and emits a nutty aroma (about 15 minutes).
  2. Sauté the bell pepper, onion and garlic in the roux until the veggies become limp (about 5 minutes).
  3. Add in the various peppers, cajun seasoning, scallions and parsley and cook for another minute.
  4. Stir in the broth, wine, soy sauce and diced tomatoes.
  5. Bring the mixture to a simmer then add the okra and cook covered for at least 20 minutes or until the okra becomes tender.
  6. Remove from heat and stir in butter.
  7. Serve over long-grain rice and garnish with chopped scallions.
  8. Dash on a generous amount of tabasco and enjoy.

Sometimes, I oddly don't feel like driving the six hours it would take to get back to New Orleans for some authentic cajun cuisine, so I have to spend an hour to make it instead (and 3 hours to lay on the couch in an extremely full stupor so really I guess I don't save that much time). This dish is wonderfully spicy and creamy, and the okra is key to bringing it over the top (just make sure you cook it long enough to be tender). 

The equally fantastic vegetarian version
While I was a huge fan of the shrimp version, I have to say that the vegetarian version is every bit as amazing. The seitan version in particular makes a strong showing because it provides just the right texture (and allows you to say you're cooking seitan and giggle).

1 comment:

  1. I'm trying to decide if "meat up" is more or less homoerotic than "adventures in meat"

    but jokes aside it looks AMAZING. I think this will be my next cooking venture.

    ReplyDelete