Crawfish Etouffee

by John

As Liz and I bike across the South I am trying to eat as many regional specialties as possible. This has been especially fun near and in Louisiana where there is all kinds of great Creole and Cajun food: beignets and cafe au lait; jambalaya; pralines; snowballs; shrimp and oyster po' boys; gumbo; boudin (a soft, rice-based Cajun sausage); Zapp's potato chips and more.

Lately when I shop for meals I've been trying to buy local-style stuff as well, even if it's just a can of gumbo to heat up on the camp stove. We bought some cheap fresh shrimp at a great fish store in Pensacola and I sauteed them with garlic at camp and served them over Zatarain's dirty rice.

Tonight, near Jackson, LA, I bought a block of frozen crawfish tails (the only ones available were imported from China), cooked them in Zatarain's etouffee (a thick, creamy, spicy sauce) mix and served them over rice. We enjoyed this with a sixpack of locally made Abita Amber beer. This was probably the best camp meal I've ever made. Even with a pound of seafood the ingredients cost much less than a cheap dinner out.

If you want to cook something you haven't eaten for a while, try the Zatarain's mixes or better yet look up one of these recipes on the internet. In Chicago, the Local Option at Webster and Sheffield is a bar that happens to serve great New Orleans-style food. Bon appetit.