Mardi Gras Etouffee

I'm not sure how I stumbled across this dish, but my best friend make it every Mardi Gras to celebrate Fat Tuesday.  Being a die hard Catholic...we must celebrate these things.  This is a new recipe for me.  It takes  a lot of work because you have to chop everything up before making the roux.  Amy had some good tips for me on making the roux, as I was never really that good at it.  Just commit to the fact that it's going to take twenty minutes or so, and it's going to be as dark as peanut butter.  Once I got that in my head, I made a pretty darn good roux.

Mardi Gras Etouffee

1/3 cup vegetable oil (Amy uses butter- I just didn't have any)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 small green bell pepper, diced

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, diced

2 fresh tomatoes, chopped

2 tablespoons Louisiana-style hot sauce

1/3 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons seafood seasoning

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 cup clam juice

1 pound medium raw shrimp - peeled and deveined

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Gradually stir in flour, and stir constantly until the mixture turns 'peanut butter' brown or darker, at least 15 or 20 minutes. I use a wooden spoon and do figure 8's to make sure I get all the flour. This is your base sauce.  It is very important to stir this constantly. If by chance the roux burns, discard and start over.

Once the roux is browned, add the onions, garlic, celery and bell pepper to the skillet, and saute for about 5 minutes to soften. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and clam juice, and season with the seafood seasoning. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Season the sauce with hot pepper sauce and cayenne pepper and add the shrimp. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the shrimp are opaque. I covered this to make sure the shrimp cooked thoroughly, but make sure you keep an eye on it to not overcook the shrimp.  Serve over rice.

So I was impatient at the store, and couldn't for the life of me find "seafood seasoning."  I just figured I'd use Cajun seasoning, but then I got home and started looking at homemade recipes.  I realized that this seafood seasoning would be very flavorful, and I could blow it if I didn't use it.  I ran across a separate recipe online, and I just made my own.  It was delicious!  I would suggest though, if you make the seafood seasoning, only use one tablespoon.  It was very "seasony."  Possibly too much.

Seafood Seasoning

1 1/2 Tbsp Celery Seed
1 1/2 Tbsp Salt
2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1/2 tsp Dry Mustard
1/2 tsp whole Thyme
1 Tbsp Paprika
1 tsp freshly ground Black Pepper
1/2 tsp ground Ginger
2 Bay Leaves, crushed

I threw all this stuff in the "Magic Bullet," and got a delicious blend of flavor.  I had some left over, so I took this pic.  I think the celery seed gives it a nice flavor. 

All in all, the dinner was good.  I will definitely make again when I have about an hour to prepare, and you can bet on me making  my own seafood seasoining as well!  Enjoy!

MGD