My Key West friend, Jeffrey, asked if I had a good recipe for etouffe… haven’t made it in awhile – great idea! …

I think the keys to a successful etouffe are in the roux and the stock. First the roux: I like to fry 4 or 5 strips of bacon for the grease (then remove the bacon to a paper towel to drain), but a combo of good olive or vegetable oil and butter is great too. To feed 6, use about 1/3 cup bacon grease & butter or oil & butter, heat in a large skillet over medium until just bubbly… then add 1/4 cup flour and stir or whisk constantly, maybe 15 minutes or more, until peanut butter brown. Then add a medium onion, chopped, about a cup & a half chopped peppers (bell & poblano, jalapeno if you want heat), 2 stalks chopped celery and 2 cloves minced garlic… saute about 5 minutes to soften.

Add a couple of chopped, fresh tomatoes and 1.5 cups fish stock … about the stock — if you’ve planned ahead, you’ve saved salmon skins and shrimp shells, et al… (you can store them in your freezer until you’ve collected enough, maybe 2 cups), put them in a large stock pot with 12 cups water, bay leaf, sliced onion, black peppercorns, chopped carrot & celery and a little fish sauce, to taste. I sometimes add a dried guajillo pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer down for at least 45 minutes, then strain & discard the solids.

So… add the stock and tomatoes, reduce heat to low and simmer another 15 minutes or so. Finally, add a pound each of crawfish and/or shrimp (lobster works ) and simmer until opaque, 10ish more minutes.

Serve over rice with hush puppies or crackers. And extra hot sauce!

You guys let me know if you try this and have any suggestions or modifications.

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Kitchen by Suzi