Sunday Dinner: Shrimp and Sausage Etouffee

Pete and I love Sunday night dinners. This was my first attempt at cajun cooking -- turned out amazing!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 stick of butter


• olive oil


• 1 lb shrimp (uncooked, shell off, tail on)


• 1 lb andouille sausage links (I used chicken andouille links from Whole Foods)


• 3/4 c all-purpose flour


• 1 medium onion


• 2 celery ribs


• 1 green bell pepper


• 4 cloves garlic


• 2 - 12 oz can/bottle of beer (one for the recipe, one for the cook)


• 4 c chicken stock


• 2 bay leaves


• 2 Tb sweet paprika


• dash cayenne (ground or sauce)


• 1 c chopped flat-leaf parsley


• diced green scallions for topping


• rice (I use brown rice)

Preparation:

• This requires slow cooking on the stove, so I used my dutch oven (tee-hee, "dutch oven" -- always makes me laugh)


• In food processor, chop/blend/pulp the onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic


• Drizzle olive oil in pot and brown andouille links in the oil


• Remove sausage after browned, add butter until melted, then stir in flour to make your roux


• Once your roux is nice and brown, add your veggies, cook for a couple minutes, then deglaze the pot with 12 oz beer


• Add chicken stock, bay leaves, paprika and cayenne. Whisk consistently to ensure mixture is well blended


• Slice sausage links to 1/4 in. - 1/2 in. slices, add to dutch oven


• Simmer for about an hour -- let it reduce considerably


• Prepare rice -- I prepared 1 1/2 c of dry rice in the rice cooker


• Remove shrimp tails and then add shrimp just five minutes before you're ready to serve


• Remove from heat and stir in parsley

Serve:

I served the etouffee over brown rice and topped with chopped scallions. I could do without the scallions -- Pete thought they were "critical' to completing the meal. Pete poured us each a Yuengling Lord Chesterfield -- perfect companion (Pete and the beer)!