As I mentioned last week, I had a whole gang of people over for the 4th of July.  With the help from my parents, we had a shrimp boil, fried fish, grilled chicken, hot dogs, and sausages.  There were great sides (mac and cheese, baked beans, pasta salad, and green salad) and several types of desserts (The Next Best Thing to Robert Redford – or Robert Redford as we call it – that needs to be changed to The Next Best Thing to Duane Johnson; we also had Dirt Cake and finally Apple, Cherry, and Peach mini pies – made with my Bella mini pie maker).  We all had a great time.  I think I had around 25 people in the house. 

Now, if you have ever hosted; you know that it can get costly to do something of that magnitude and ensure that everyone is well fed.  This also caused me to decide that I’m not going to be grocery shopping this week.  Whatever we eat this week will come from my freezers. 

A few months ago, Babydoll was looking on Pinterest and saw Étouffée.  She thought it looked really good and asked me about it.  I told her that it’s easy to make basically a Cajun gravy that you have with rice.  I told her that I would make it for her one day.  Looking in my freezer this week, I found some shrimp.  We keep rice because Babydoll loves it, so I decided we were having Étouffée for dinner.  I also found a lone chicken breast that I pulled out of the freezer to have along with my shrimp.  To complete the meal, I sautéed some frozen chopped kale (I sautéed in chili olive oil) and some French bread that I smeared with Brummel Brown. 

As I told Babydoll, Étouffée is basically a Cajun gravy; however it takes a little longer to prepare than regular gravy.  It’s all about the roux, and for this version, I decided to make a dark roux. 

A dark roux took me about 20 minutes to make.  Typically you are required to constantly stir your roux so that it doesn’t burn; but I will be honest, I peeled shrimp while my roux cooked.  I was running back and forth from the sink to the stove stirring with my wooden spoon and whisk. 
After my roux reached the color I wanted, I added my trinity and chicken breast that I had seasoned with Slap Yo Momma seasoning.  I cooked this for another 5-7 minutes. 

This addition resulted in my roux getting a little darker, but that was cool.  After this had cooked about 5 minutes or so, I added some minced garlic.

I then I added chicken stock, a can of petite diced tomatoes, and a gang of seasonings. 

Once this came to a boil, I lowered the temperature and allowed it to simmer for another 15-20 minutes. 
I added my shrimp and cooked until they turned pink, about 2-3 minutes; then added butter – which made it so much better. 

I could have sliced some green onion – I had it in the frig – but I decided against it, because I was ready to S-N-A-P.
I cooked rice in my rice cooker – if you don’t have one – put it on your Christmas list (or put it in lay-a-way at Walmart this Christmas). 

One thing that I will beg you to do when you cook rice is to cook your rice with a bay leaf.  It will take your rice to a level that you will not be able to understand.  It makes it amazing. 

Babydoll said that she really enjoyed it.  Remember I said that I only had one chicken breast?  She asked me where the chicken was.  The next time I make it, I will be sure to add more chicken. 

Have you made Étouffée before?  Comment below to let me know what you like to make yours with and how dark do you typically like to make it.
The recipe that I used is below.  I hope that you enjoy it.