Shrimp Fauxtoufee

Confession: I've not had the opportunity to enjoy many Cajun dishes in my life, and their roux base poses a bit of an obstacle to further discovery at this time. This approximation loses its authenticity in a few ways: using yellow peppers instead of green in my trinity, gratuitous addition of zucchini, and almost nonexistent roux base.

I have read that some are using a "dry roux" instead of a full-on roux base for some Cajun dishes, which involves toasted flour. I'll look into this. This one used a bit of traditional roux, but also cornstarch slurry and some konjac glucomannan it probably didn't need. Be careful with the latter to thicken gravies and sauces -- it is very effective texturally, but will tend to dull flavors and somewhat coat the tongue.

Following Elise's recommendation (Simply Recipes), I made stock with the shrimp peels while I prepared the rest of the ingredients.

4 servings:

2 lbs raw shrimp, peeled (so not really 2 lbs!)

100 g onions

2 stalks celery

1 bell pepper, diced

4 cloves garlic

1 T butter

1 T flour

1 T cornstarch (dissolve in some cold water or broth)

2 c shrimp stock

1 T paprika

1 t smoked paprika

2 t Emeril's essence, prepared without salt

1 T Slap Yo Mama boil seasoning

1/2 t celery seed Optional: up to 1/2 t konjac glucomannan powder

Optional: 2 medium zucchini

Without the shrimp, this etouffee base is about 66 calories (some spices not logged, your mileage may vary). I had mine over oat fiber shirataki "rice", he had his over actual rice (1/4 c dry).

With Emeril's and the boil seasoning, this was a wee bit on the hot afterburn side but still decent.

#seafood #portioncontrol #savory #hisandhers