Well it is spring but New Orleans really has many more seasons than the usual four. In fact, when my son was being tested for first grade another mother mentioned her son had a hard time when asked "What are the four seasons?" He responded: deer season, duck season, Mardi Gras and I forgot what he said for the fourth season. I can think of a season no one wants to mention, so I won't. However, right now it is crawfish season, the end of strawberry season and Jazz Fest is coming up.
I don't make crawfish ettouffee very often because it is so rich but I made some last weekend... There are many variations on the recipe for this dish but mine is adapted from a book by Holly Berkowitz Clegg called From a Louisiana Kitchen which was reprinted in 1983. (Click on the picture of the recipe to see a close up of it.) Ms. Clegg has written a number of cookbooks and writes about Louisiana cooking for a variety of publications.
Here are my personal notes on her recipe. She mentions 1 pound peeled crawfish tails with fat - what most people use comes from local vendors in one pound plastic bags. The crawfish are peeled packaged surrounded in their fat. I rinse the crawfish before using them. I don't want that extra fat!
And I like a lighter tasting dish.
Instead of using 1/2 cup water, I use 1/2 cup canned chicken broth.
She simply lists juice of lemon and I specifically use one to two teaspoons.
I also add a few tablespoons of finely chopped celery to the mixture of green pepper, onions and garlic which are sauteed in butter.
That is what I do, the second photo is a picture of the finished product.
Georgia Chadwick
Law Library of Louisiana
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