Recipe: Crawfish Etouffee

Here's the recipe for Paul Prudhomme's Crawfish Etouffee.

Seasoning mix

2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cayenne
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried sweet basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
3/4 cup chopped fresh onion, celery and green pepper mix

7 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3 cups chicken broth
2 sticks of butter
2 pounds crawfish tails
1 cup very finely chopped green onions
Serve with rice

Combine the seasoning mix and set aside. In a large black-iron skillet, make your roux with the vegetable oil and flour. Cook until roux is dark red-brown in color, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately stir in your chopped onion mix and one tablespoon of the seasoning. Continue stirring until cooled, about five minutes.

In a 2 square saucepan, bring 2 cups of the stock to a boil over a high heat. Gradually add the roux and whisk until dissolved. Reduce heat to low and cook until flour taste is gone, about 2 minutes, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Remove from heat and set aside.
In another pan, melt 1 stick of butter and stir in crawfish and the green onions, saute about 1 minute. Add the remaining stick of butter, the stock mixture and the remaining cup of stock. Cook until butter melts and is mixed with the sauce, about 4 to 6 minutes, constantly shaking the pan but careful not to break up crawfish tails. Add the remaining season mix, stir well and remove from heat. Serve immediately over rice.