Spicy Shrimp Etouffee - If You're Texting the Recipe Just Enter "A2FEY"

For whatever reason, I've recently been on a Cajun/Creole cooking kick. Here's the finished shrimp etouffee video recipe I promised last week, and man, was it good! Etouffee is one of New Orleans' most famous dishes - it's spicy (or can be), aromatic, brightly flavored, and very comforting, all at the same time.

Etouffee comes from the French word for "smothered," and I would describe the dish as a rich, shrimp gravy served with rice. In general, Creole cooking is not that common for the average home cook. I think, from a distance, it may look like Creole cooking is fairly complicated. While some recipes do have lots of steps, most of the classics, like this shrimp etouffee, are quite simple to make.

Speaking of famous New Orleans recipes, folks in my age group may remember with some amusement, the blackened redfish craze from the early eighties. Chef Paul Prudhomme, of K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen, introduced America to that old Cajun favorite, blackened fish. It was later discovered it wasn't even a Cajun recipe, but that's a chef for you - we never let the facts get in the way of a great story.

This was a smoke alarm's dream recipe. Blackened redfish is basically a fillet covered in spicy dry rub, and seared on a red-hot cast iron pan. This is a great recipe when made under a massive restaurant exhaust fan. At home, it produced copious amount of smoke, which forced many a chef outdoors. Anyway, enjoy the video and be sure to give this easy, and smoke-free, recipe a try!
Click here for ingredients and transcript