Crawfish Étouffée with Jalapeno Cheese Cornbread

Hey fellow foodies! I was out over the weekend with my husband for our first wedding anniversary! We had a blast, maybe even too much fun 🙂 It started Saturday with some Christmas shopping for our family. Then we went to the lake (where Evan’s parents live and we soon will be living in 8 days… more on that in a moment).

I made us (Evan’s parents and us) a delightful dinner: Quail wrapped in bacon, stuffed with La Marechal Emmi Cheese, Jalapenos, and seared in duck fat. They offered to dog sit for our big day/night out on the town the following day. On Sunday we got up took the dog out for a quick walk and then made our way to downtown. We stayed at the Driskill, one of my favorite places in Austin (we came here after our wedding a year ago on that day). For dinner we went to Uchi and drank and ate far too much, it was incredible as usual! It was the perfect way to celebrate one year of marriage and many more to come!

Back to the whole moving thing… in 8 days (oh my I cannot believe how close it is), we are moving to Lago Vista for at least a year possibly 2. Evan’s parents will be going to Singapore for work and then when they return they will be retiring! We are lucky enough to be staying in their beautiful home while they are away! I would imagine this may be my last blog post until the new year since I will be waist deep in packing the house up. So if you don’t hear from me for about a week, that’s why 😉

This Crawfish Étouffée is simple to make and not very time intensive! For all of you cajun purist out there, beware I have made some modifications so don’t hate 😉

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 20-25 min

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1lb Crawfish- thawed tails, cooked ( I buy the frozen bag already peeled and cooked, just tails when they are not in season).
• 1/2 Stick of salted butter
• 2 TBS Rendered duck fat (if you do not have this you can get some at Marx Foods or you can add more butter (2 TBS). I know what you’re thinking… but there’s nothing healthy about this dish so why not add some duck fat!!! 😉
• 1 Green bell, chopped
• 1 Red bell, chopped
• 1 Sweet yellow onion, chopped
• 1/4 Poblano pepper, chopped
• 1 C. Chopped celery
• 1/4 C. Shallots, minced
• 2 Cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. Green peppercorns, finely ground.
• 1 tsp. Sea salt, kosher
• 1 TBS of your fav. cajun spice mix
• 1 Pinch of cayenne pepper if desired, the poblanos to contain some heat.
• 2 Whole bay leaves
• 1/2 C. Chicken Stock,  1/2 C. Water 2 TBS flour, dissolve flour in it.
• 2 C. Uncooked rice long grain white rice (there will be left over rice).
• 4 C. Chicken stock for rice and a TBS of olive oil.

Instructions:

1. Get rice going with broth and oil. cook accordingly to package.
2. In a large skillet or dutch oven heat butter and duck fat on high (don’t burn it though), add all of the veggies, garlic, and shallots. Cook for about 10-12 min or until onions are translucent.
3. Add crawfish and spices cook for 5 min.
4. Add water/broth and flour mixture and let thicken for about 4-5 min.
5. Taste and add salt or cajun spice if needed (depending on your broth and cajun seasoning you may need to add something).
6. Remove bay leaves and serve Crawfish Étouffée over rice with a side of corn bread (recipe coming soon).

Enjoy and Cheers!