Chicken Etouffee (A-2-fay)

I found this recipe quite by chance when flipping through channels one day a few years ago.  I came upon the FoodNetwork and paused there only because there was nothing else on.

The original recipe comes from Emeril Lagasse  and as always, I have tweaked it a bit for my family.  If you haven’t tried my Shrimp Etouffee recipe yet, here is the link to that.  Crawfish is not a shellfish that is easily found in this part of South Carolina and so I very rarely get to make Crawfish Etouffee but that is above all my favorite version of this dish.

A little history:  Etouffee is a Cajun stew traditionally made with crawfish and vegetables and a dark roux.  It is usually served over rice and comes from a french word that means “to smother”.

Ingredients:

• 4 pound whole chicken
• ½ Cup butter
• ¾ Cup flour
• 1 large onion
• ½ green bell pepper
• ½ red bell pepper
• 2 large stalks celery
• 4 cloves garlic
• 12 ounce bottle dark lager beer
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 3 Tablespoons hot sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• Salt, pepper
• 1 teaspoon corriander
• ½ teaspoon marjoram
• 1 pound kielbasa
• 6-8 ounces white button mushrooms
• Tony Chachere’s Seasoning

To cook my chicken, I place it in a deep pot and cover it with water.  I bring this to a boil and add salt and pepper.  I allow this to boil for 45 minutes.  I then turn the heat off and cover the pot with heavy duty foil and place the lid over that to form a tight seal.  I then allow this to sit for about 3-4 hours in the covered pot. I then take the foil off, flip it over to form a bowl and put the chicken on the foil to cool so that I will be able to tear the meat from the bone.  Pour the chicken stock in another bowl until ready to use a little later.

In a large pot (I use the same one I cooked my chicken in), melt a stick of butter and then add 3/4 cup flour and stir to form a paste.

To make a roux, you are just cooking the flour/butter mixture until it gets to a chocolate brown color.  This takes a bit of patience as well as an eye kept on it.  Make sure your heat is on medium to low and every minute or two, stir the roux so that the bottom does not burn and turn an awful flavor and odor.  The 1st picture above is getting close but not quite chocolatey brown yet.  Almost there though.  Just keep doing this, watching it until it is a nice chocolate brown.  (2nd picture above).

While the butter and flour are browning and you are keeping a watchful eye on it, chop up your onion, peppers, celery, and garlic.

Once the roux is the color you need, throw the chopped vegetables in there.

Stir this together and cook for 3 minutes.

Here are the seasoning ingredients that you will use now.  I have used many different dark lager beers but this one is the one I can find the easiest so this is the one I use the most often.

Add your dark lager beer and stir well.

This will still be a thick pasty mess but that is what you want it to look like.  The end result will be worth this goo.

Add your quart of chicken stock that you have set aside from your chicken.

Again, stir this up.  It will be a dark color, still exactly as you want it to be.

Add your brown sugar, hot sauce and worcestershire sauce to this.

Add corriander and marjoram.

Mix it up there.  We are oh so close to a great dinner.

While the pot is sitting on the medium-low heat on the stove, tear up the chicken.

Go ahead and dump it on in to that goodness.

Slice up the kielbasa sausage and halve the mushrooms.

Add your sausage and mushrooms and simmer on low for about an hour.

I make about 4 cups of white rice to serve with this big ol’ pot of chicken goodness.  And let me tell you that the leftovers of this are even better than that first serving.  Enjoy!