Tuesday, April 12, 2011

C'est si bon

The "Holy Trinity" (celery, onions and bell pepper)
Here you will see another side of my cooking.  I was born in Louisiana to cajun parents.  So I grew up eating cajun cuisine.  Gumbo, red beans and rice, catfish coubillion and crawfish etouffee are some of my favorite dishes.  Unfortunately, crawfish are very hard to come by so I generally have to use shrimp in place.  Here for you I demonstrate a shrimp etouffee.  (Etouffe in English means literally "smothered.")  This is my sisters recipe, she uses butter with the "Holy Trinity" as the sauce base.  The "Holy Trinity" in cajun cooking consists of celery, onions and bell pepper (generally green, but I only had yellow on hand when I made this.)  Some people make a roux for the base or I have heard of using cream of mushroom soup, but I prefer the butter base.  I have never had tomato in my etouffee and plan on keeping it that way (that is more of a creole style and creole and cajun are two different things, let's be clear.)

About 6 tablespoons butter with the "Holy Trinity" (2 cups chopped onions, 1 cup celery, 1 cup bell pepper) cook about 10 minutes, until veggies are soft
"Holy Trinity" cooked about 10 minutes
Prepped shrimp (1 pound will serve four people)
Add shrimp to veggies along with salt and cayenne pepper and cook until they turn pink
Close up before adding liquid
Add 1/2 cup water + 1/2 cup white wine + 1 tablespoon flour whisked in, cook for 6 minutes (don't over cook shrimp!)
Finished product, serve over white rice
Tastes good!


5 comments:

  1. I have to say, although I am a vegetarian, when Amy cooks this dish... it really smells good!!!!!!!!!! ......I wish I could try it!

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  2. This is the most yummy looking of all your recipes! I know how good those shrimp are!!

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  3. Amy, your food photos are fabulous! I like this one in particular because it speaks to your Cajun heritage. Alpine manger!

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  4. Amy this looks good enough to eat, why don't you come over tonight and fix it for us to eat and I will share a bottle of wine with you.

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  5. Thank you all for the lovely comments....I have never attempted a gumbo..... Maybe that will be next on my list!

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