Étouffée

My Lovely Wife came home late the other evening from a work sponsored crawfish boil. With her came a couple of pounds of crawfish - "They were going to throw it all away" she noted. Certainly this bounty could not have been thrown away, thus, I decreed that the following night's dinner would be Crawfish Étouffée. So here's the recipe I used:

Ingredients

• ¾ cup of butter (1.5 sticks of butter)
• ½ large onion, diced
• ½ cup of flour
• 2 ribs of celery
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• ½ large bell pepper, diced
• 3 green onions
• ½ bunch of parsley
• 3 canned tomatoes, diced
• 1-2 lbs crawfish tails
• 2-2.5 cups of crawfish stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 basil leaf
• Fat from the crawfish
• Creole Seasoning (i.e. Tony's)
• Tabasco
• Baking Soda
• 1 recipe of No BS Rice

Method

1. Sauté onions (and a pinch of salt and a pinch of baking soda) in ¼ cup of butter (½ stick). Once fully translucent place aside with other vegetables.
2. In a large skillet with a lid, over medium-low heat, use the remaining ½ cup (1 stick) of butter and the flour to make a medium to dark roux. 
3. Once the roux reaches the desired color add in the bell pepper, celery, and a pinch of salt; sauté 1:30-3:00, until soft.
4. Add garlic, creole seasoning, bay leaf, and basil leaf; saute for 30 seconds, before slowly adding the stock. Make sure to continue stirring constantly until the roux, vegetables, and stock are fully mixed.
5. Cover and allow to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Add to the mixture, the crawfish tails, the remaining crawfish fat, a liberal shaking of the creole seasoning, and a dash or 2 of tabasco. Re-cover and simmer (stirring occasionally) for another 10-15 minutes.
7. Serve with No BS Rice.