Shrimp Étouffée

Although my family consistently cooked amazing dinners throughout my childhood, the one I missed the most when I left for college was seafood étouffée. There was something so perfect about a spicy, flavorful sauce combined with shrimp, lots of vegetables, and served over perfectly-cooked rice. Plus, étouffée wasn’t something I was getting in my college dining halls and wasn’t readily available off-campus in Boston. Now as an adult with a full kitchen, making étouffée is an amazingly comforting meal that’s perfect for quarantine.

Ingredients

• Shrimp (can sub crawfish or firm white fish)
• Seafood stock (2-3 cups; store-bought or make your own with shrimp shells— see below for instructions!)
• Butter/neutral oil
• Flour
• Onion, diced
• Celery, diced
• Bell pepper, diced
• Green onions
• Black pepper (~2 t)
• Cayenne (~2 t— more or less to taste)
• Dried thyme (~1 T)
• Dried basil (~1 T)
• Old Bay (~1 t)
• Salt
• Rice

So you want to make your own seafood stock? (otherwise skip this section)

You can always buy seafood stock in a pinch, but with just a little planning you can make your own with the shells from the shrimp in this recipe. All you need to do for a basic seafood stock is place your shrimp shells in water on the stove and simmer on medium0low for about an hour. This will make for a simple and versatile shrimp stock. For an even more flavorful stock that will work especially well for étouffée, simply add the leaves from the celery needed for this recipe, whole black peppercorns, and onion.

If you want a more hands-off version, place your shrimp shells and water in a slow cooker or crock pot and let sit on high for two hours.

After simmering your stock, strain out the shells (and any other flavorings). If you make more than 2-3 cups, you can store and freeze the rest for future use!

Prep your spice mix

Combine all your dry spices (minus salt, save this for the end since the Old Bay. shrimp, and stock will add saltiness) so you have a ready-to-go cajun spice mix. Use a mortar and pestle or spice grinder if using whole spices.

Start developing your sauce

You’ll start by making a roux. Heat your butter or oil until fully melted. Stir in flour and whisk until smooth. Continue to stir as the roux cooks— you want this to get a nice reddish brown color to add lots of caramelized, rich flavor to the sauce. Keep stirring to ensure the roux doesn’t scorch. Once you obtain a dark roux, turn down the heat and stir in all your chopped vegetables/onion and your seasoning mix until combined.

Whisk in your stock and let your sauce thicken on the stove on low heat, stirring ocassionally.

While your sauce thickens and its flavors develop, use a separate pan to cook your de-veined, shelled shrimp until just pink (they’ll continue to cook a bit once added to your sauce).

Add your cooked shrimp and half your chopped green onions to the sauce.

All that’s left is plating! Serve over rice and garnish with remaining green onions. And there you have it, your new favorite comfort meal.