What's on the menu? Crawfish Étouffée

This is one of my favorites! If you try it let me know what you and your family think of it.  My family adores this one, and mini is already asking when I'm making it again.  

If you are a shy cook, please don't skip over this without considering it first!! It may sound fancy or too advanced for the less adventurous, but in truth the hardest part is browning the flour...and thats really simple. 

I chopped and measured out everything that the recipe called for first so when I finally did start cooking dinner, from start to finish, it only took me about an hour to get the whole meal on the table for us to devour.  

Crawfish Étouffée

4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 bay leaf

1/3 cup butter, divided

1/2 cup all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 ounces)

Cooking spray

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

2/3 cup diced celery

1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 tablespoon Creole seasoning

1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided

1 pound crawfish (tail meat) precooked, thawed if frozen

4 cups hot cooked long-grain rice

Combine the following ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat until it begins to simmer.  Cover and remove from heat.

4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 bay leaf

Melt 1/4 cup butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.

Add the flour to the pan with butter in it & cook 8 minutes or until it’s very brown, stirring constantly with a whisk. *be very careful that it does not burn! Being very brown and burnt are two different things.*

Remove from heat. Add 1 cup of the broth mixture to the pan - stirring with a whisk until its smooth.

Add the remaining 3 cups of the broth mixture - stirring with a whisk until smooth; set aside.

Melt the remaining butter in a large Dutch oven (coated with cooking spray) over medium-high heat.

 Add the following ingredients to the dutch oven and cook 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender and onion is golden brown, stirring occasionally

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

2/3 cup diced celery

1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

Stir in 3/4 cup water, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add the tomato paste, Creole seasoning, garlic, black pepper, and red pepper to onion mixture - cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Add the broth-flour mixture and Worcestershire sauce to pan, stirring well to combine; bring to a simmer. Cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

 Add green onions, 1/4 cup parsley, and crawfish; cook 3 minutes or until crawfish is heated thoroughly. Discard bay leaf.

 Serve over rice and sprinkle each serving with the 2 teaspoons of remaining parsley

Makes 6 servings (1 1/2 c etouffee and 2/3 c rice)

*The crawfish that I used for this was bought at Walmart in the frozen seafood section

for pinterest