When we lived in Ft Lauderdale, we often lunched at a small Cajun restaurant called Creolina’s.  The food was amazing and one of my favorite dishes was the crawfish etouffée they served over plain white rice.  This version calls for Andouille sausage as I like its porky flavor with the seafood.

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 3 Andouille sausage links (about ½ pound), cut into bite size pieces
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 green or red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 large garlic cloves, halved
• 1 12-ounce bottle of medium-bodied beer
• 1 cup bottled clam juice
• 3 cups chicken broth
• ½ tsp. each salt and pepper
• 2 Tbsp. paprika
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 pound crawfish tails, cooked
• 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Directions:

1. Add oil to a heavy Dutch oven set over medium heat.  Add the sausage links and cook for 2-3 minutes until browned.  Using a slotted spoon, remove the sausage from the pot and set aside for later use, keeping the rendered fat in the pot on medium heat.
2. Add the butter to the hot fat in the pot and when completely melted, add the flour.  Whisk the flour into the fat to incorporate and create a roux.  Cook the roux, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until it is the color of peanut butter, about 10 minutes.
3. Place the celery, bell pepper, onion and garlic in the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse to roughly chop, about 1 minute.
4. Add the processed vegetables to the roux in the pot and stir with a wooden spoon to fully combine.  Cook the mixture over medium heat for 5 – 7 minutes, stirring frequently.
5. Add the beer, clam juice and broth to the vegetable mixture and scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to loosen up all the brown bits.  Return the sausage to the pot, add the spices, bay leaves and simmer for about 1 hour.
6. Add the crawfish tails to the pot and cook for about 5 minutes to warm through.
7. Serve the etouffée over white rice and garnish with parsley.

Makes 6 servings.

Notes:  If you have crawfish in the shells, simply remove the tails, then add the shells to a pot with 4 cups of water.  Simmer for 30 – 45 minutes, then strain the crawfish juices.  Use 1 cup of the crawfish juice in place of the clam juice.  Don’t have crawfish?  Simply replace with shrimps!