Cajun
Crawfish Étouffée
Sweet Louisiana crawfish tails in a flowing, butter-rich blond roux, brightened with scallions, parsley, and lemon over steamed rice.
6 servings · 25 minutes prep · 50 minutes cook
Ingredients
Steamed rice
- 1½ cups, Uncooked
- 2¼ cups
- 1 tsp, Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 tbsp
Crawfish étouffée
- 2 lb, Cooked and peeled; thaw if frozen and reserve any crawfish fat and juices
- ¾ cup
- ½ cup
- 1½ cups, Finely diced
- ¾ cup, Finely diced
- ¾ cup, Finely diced
- 4 medium cloves, Minced
- 3 cups, Unsalted; unsalted seafood stock may be used as a fallback
- 1 dried leaf, Dried
- ½ tsp
- ½ tsp
- ½ tsp, Freshly ground
- ⅛ tsp, Ground
- 2 tsp
- 1 tsp
- 1½ tsp, Diamond Crystal kosher salt, divided; add the final portion to taste
- ½ cup, Thinly sliced, with white and green parts separated
- ¼ cup, Flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 2 tsp, Freshly squeezed
Directions
Cook the rice
- Rinse long grain white rice under cool running water in a {{tool:colander}} until the water is only slightly cloudy, then drain well. Combine it with water, the rice portion of kosher salt, and the rice portion of unsalted butter in a 2-quart {{tool:saucepan}}. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Stir once, cover tightly with a {{tool:lid}}, and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes without lifting the lid. Remove from the heat and let stand, still covered, for 10 minutes. Fluff with a {{tool:fork}} and keep covered until serving.
Prepare the crawfish
- Pick through crawfish tail meat and discard any shell fragments. Refrigerate the tail meat while making the sauce, and pour any crawfish fat and juices into a {{tool:measuring-cup}} to add with the stock. Do not rinse the tails.
Build the blond roux
- Melt the étouffée portion of unsalted butter in a heavy 4- to 5-quart {{tool:dutch-oven}} over medium-low heat. Whisk in all purpose flour with a {{tool:whisk}} until smooth. Cook for 8 to 12 minutes, whisking or stirring continuously into the corners, until the roux smells toasted and is evenly pale golden, like peanut butter; do not take it to the dark-brown stage used for gumbo.
- Add yellow onion, celery, green bell pepper, and the white portions of scallions. Stir thoroughly with a {{tool:wooden-spoon}} and cook over medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until soft and translucent but not browned.
- Add garlic cloves and cook for 45 seconds, just until fragrant.
Smother the sauce
- Slowly add crawfish stock and the reserved crawfish fat and juices, whisking after each addition to prevent lumps. Stir in bay leaf, dried thyme, sweet paprika, black pepper, cayenne pepper, worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and 1 tsp (3 g) of the étouffée portion of kosher salt.
- Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer over medium heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are fully tender and the sauce coats the back of a spoon while still flowing easily. If it becomes pasty or holds a trail when stirred, loosen it with unmeasured hot water 2 tbsp (30 ml) at a time.
Finish with the crawfish
- Reduce the heat to low and fold in the chilled crawfish tail meat. Cook gently for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until hot throughout and the sauce returns to a bare simmer. Do not boil.
- Remove from the heat and discard bay leaf. Stir in parsley, the green portions of scallions, and lemon juice. Taste before adding the remaining ½ tsp (1.5 g) kosher salt, using only as much as needed.
- Let the étouffée stand for 5 minutes so the sauce settles. Spoon the rice into warm {{tool:serving-bowls}} and use a {{tool:ladle}} to serve the crawfish and sauce generously over it.
