Meatless Monday - Shrimp Etouffee

Today's Meatless Monday invovlves SEAFOOD!!!!  Sorry, but if it doesn't moo, quack or oink, it's not considered meat in our house.  Shrimp are pretty quiet, so they're fair game on Meatless Monday.

INGREDIENTS:

(Now please understand, most of my measurements are "ish"....1tsp"ish" of whatever)

2 -3 lbs. peeled, deveined raw shrimp

2 cups chopped onion

2 tbs. minced garlic

1/2 cup green bell pepper

2/3 cup flour

2/3 cup oil

2 cans tomato paste

1 - 28 ou. can crushed tomatoes

2- 14.5 ou. cans diced tomatoes (I used garlic & onion flavor)

64 ou. seafood stock (you can sub chicken stock if necessary, but then it's not technically meatless)

Cajun seasoning to taste (I use Tony Chachere's)

Red Pepper Flakes to taste

2 Bay leaves

Tabasco to taste

1 tbsp Seafood seasoning

2 tbsp sweet basil

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp liquid Shrimp/Crab boil

salt and pepper to taste

pinch of sugar

First make your roux.  Don't panic, it's not hard.  In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the oil and cook the flour in the oil over medium to high heat (depending on your roux making skill), stirring constantly, until the roux reaches a dark reddish-brown color, almost the color of coffee or milk chocolate for a Cajun-style roux. If you want to save time, or prefer a more New Orleans-style roux, cook it to a medium,

peanut-butter color, over lower heat if you're nervous about burning it.

Once the roux reaches your desired color, quickly add your veggies to stop the roux from cooking.  Cook veggies until translucent.

Add tomato paste and cook down for a little while....enjoy the smell...mmmm.

Add tomatoes and cook a bit.

Add stock and all remaining ingredients except shrimp and cook for at least 2 hours.

About 30 minutes or so before you're ready to eat, add the shrimp (you can also substitute crawfish) and cook.

 

Serve over rice with some warm, crusty French bread and butter.

This also freezes well, so if you have any leftovers, you'll have dinner for another day.

Enjoy!!