First you make a roux...

I love Cajun food, it is down to earth. Rich, flavorful, soul-full! The best! My Grandfather, David Bierhorst, was from New Orleans, and my granny, Milly Bierhorst is the best cook alive today. No question. Everyone I know says so, this is not just her grandson talking. Ask Rob, he regularly breaks veganism to eat her amazing Cajun food. So, she taught me how to make some of her best recipes, and I am getting pretty good at it. This weekend I made Shrimp and Crab Etouffee. Here is the break down so you can try it at home.

3/4 cups of flour and 1/2 cups of oil for the roux

1 large onion (chopped)

8 oz can tomato sauce

3 cups water

garlic powder (to taste)

1 + 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (red pepper)

Tabasco (to taste)

1 pound crab meat (claws and/or legs)

1 pound shrimp (de-veined and de-shelled)

You will need a cast iron skillet and a pot or a cast iron dutch oven/pot. I use a dutch oven pot so I don't have to transfer the roux from the skillet to a larger pot.

Make sure that you have all your ingredients prepared before you start your roux (you don't want to burn your roux).

First you make a roux. Combine flour and oil in a cast iron skillet over med/high heat. Stir the roux to break up clumps and to keep it from burning. This is very important, you want your roux to turn brown, like chocolate, but you don't want it to burn. What I do is reduce the heat to med-low after it starts bubbling and continue to stir. If you are using a skillet you will need to transfer to a larger pot now.

Once you have the nice rich color of chocolate you are ready to add your chopped onion, simmer the onion in the skillet for a minute or so and then add your tomato sauce. Stir once and add your 3 (plus or minus) cups of water. Stir the water in one cup at a time until you have a nice gravy like consistency. Add in your crab then add in your salt, cayenne pepper, garlic powder and Tabasco. I like it a little spicy and garlicky but add a little bit first and taste, you can always add more later, but you can't take it back out once it's in. Simmer it all for 20 minutes (or longer, this type of dish only gets better the longer the ingredients sit together)

Add in your shrimp about 10 minutes before you want to serve. I serve it over a nice long grain rice, like Basmatti rice. Here is a picture of me with pot full of Etoufee.

Eat it up any left overs the next day. My grandfather would eat it cold out of the pot for breakfast, I always liked to heat mine up in the microwave though.