Seafood Market: Westwego, LA

These are images from a trip to the Westwego Seafood Market on 5/5/10 - eleven days after the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded, caught fire, melted, and sank into the Gulf of Mexico 45 miles southeast of Venice, LA. We weren't alone in thinking that our freezer needed to be stocked with seafood. The oil spill sent everyone into a seafood frenzy, and we witnessed the largest crowds we've ever seen at the market. Before leaving, we picked up 6lbs of shrimp, 2 lbs of catfish, and 1 lb of redfish. That's a lot for Angela and I, but other shoppers made our purchase seem like a drop in the bucket. I witnessed one guy alone purchase 60 lbs of shrimp, fresh off the boat!

Louisiana Style Crawfish Etouffee

Tonight, Angela and I cooked "Louisiana Style Crawfish Etouffee" from Chef John Folse's The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine. In the end, it could have used a bit more cayenne, but the etouffee was tasty. By the way, this was my FIRST ROUX!

Louisiana Style Crawfish Etouffee

Angela chops the veggies.

In his gargantuan cookbook, Folse writes:

The French word "etouffee" means to stew, smother or braise. This technique is found in dishes using shrimp, crab, crawfish and, in some cases, meat or game. Though more Creole in origin, etouffees are found throughout Cajun country.

Folse published the recipe on his website, so I'll  paste it below:

	INGREDIENTS: 2 pounds cleaned crawfish tails 1/4 pound butter 1 cup onion, chopped 1/2 cup celery, chopped ½ cup green bell pepper, chopped ½ cup red bell pepper, chopped ½ cup tomatoes, diced 2 tbsps garlic, diced 2 bay leaves 1/2 cup tomato sauce 1 cup flour 2 quarts crawfish stock or water 1 ounce sherry 1 cup green onions, chopped ½ cup parsley, chopped salt and cayenne pepper to taste Louisiana Gold Pepper Sauce 2 cups white rice, steamed METHOD: In a 2-gallon stock pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, bell peppers, tomatoes, garlic and bay leaves. Sauté until vegetables are wilted, approximately 3-5 minutes. Add crawfish tails and tomato sauce and blend well into mixture. Using a wire whip, blend flour into the vegetable mixture to form a white roux. Slowly add crawfish stock or water, a little at a time, until sauce consistency is achieved. Continue adding more stock as necessary to retain consistency. Bring to a rolling boil, reduce to simmer and cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add sherry, green onions and parsley and cook an additional 5 minutes. Season to taste using salt and cayenne pepper. Serve over steamed white rice using a few dashes of Louisiana Gold Pepper Sauce.

Praline 2.0 = SUCCESS!!

On the second attempt, and with a little help from Angela, I was able to successfully concoct pralines. Boy, I really lived up to "couyon" status on this one - turns out I forgot to add the butter on the first try!!

Cajun Praline from The Encyclopedia of Cajun 

& Creole Cuisine by Chef John Folse

Inadvertently USA-shaped praline!

Praline 1.0 Beta = CONSISTENCY FAILURE

Roasted pecans, cooked mixture too long, crumbled. Attempt #2 underway.