Shrimp Etouffee - International Cooking Club

This month the International Cooking Club was celebrating Mardi Gras by making Shrimp Etoufee.

Now, this is something I have never even considered making. I am a New Orleans Saints fan but the cooking from the region is foreign to me. Until now...

I liked this. A lot. Yes, I should have salted it more but there was that little bit of heat that came through from the cajun spices. Actually, the only ingredient that gave it a bit of spice was the cayenne pepper. Everything else was part of our usual seasonings.

It was fun to make something that was American but out of my comfort zone. I made Shrimp broth! And it tasted really good!

Making the golden roux was something I have not done before. I have always made a bechamel sauce so letting it get brown was different. 

I did cut the recipe in half. I did not use the garlic and I only used red pepper.

I knew that this would be good because the recipe was written by Molly O'Neill. I got to sit in one a writing lecture she gave at Foodstock back in May of 2012. I always looked forward to her articles in the NYTimes. She left us much too soon.

Shrimp Etouffee  By Molly O’Neill 

YIELD: Four servings 

TIME: 1 hour 10 minutes 

Ingredients-

½ teaspoon vegetable oil 

1 ½ pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined, shells reserved

1 ¼ cups white wine
2 cups water
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced 
1 medium-size onion, peeled and chopped
1 green and 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, cored and diced
2 ribs celery, diced
 2 teaspoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
⅛ teaspoon cayenne
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 1 1/2 teaspoons water

Method-

 Heat the oil in a medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Add the shrimp shells and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Add the wine and the water, increase the heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain.

Heat 1/4 cup of shrimp broth in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add onion, peppers, and celery, lower the heat slightly and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stirring constantly and rapidly with a small spoon, add the flour. Continue stirring and cook the mixture until it turns a deep golden brown, about 3 minutes. Whisk in the remaining shrimp broth.

Stir the thyme, oregano, cayenne, and bay leaf into the vegetable mixture and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the broth mixture, bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Add the shrimp, salt, and pepper and cook until just cooked through about 3 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch mixture and cook for 2 minutes. Adjust the salt and pepper to taste, remove the bay leaf and serve over white rice.

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