Feed Me, Seymore, Feed Me

I am so hungry! And I can't do anything about it!

Well, I guess I could, but it will ruin my supper if I do.

Tonight we feast! Hahahahahahahaha!

Today is the annual (well, we're 2 for 2 anyway) Eller reunion at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church. We will be indulging in the gastronomic delights of the traditional Southern covered dish dinner. Mmmmmmm. I can hardly wait! Comfort food at its finest, served buffet style. I'll try to taunt you later with pictures.

I didn't make anything too outrageous to bring this time - just deviled eggs. Hey, what can I say? All of the positives weighed in to make it the no-brainer choice. Inexpensive, relatively easy, and tasty.

I spent a good bit of time in the kitchen yesterday. It all started 3 days ago. I was going through the cupboards and found a bag of beans for a Cajun 15 Bean Soup. So I put them out and started soaking them. I also took some shrimp out of the freezer to thaw. This was going to be good. I was thinking a shrimp etouffee would be nice.

Well, I have never made etouffee before. I've never eaten it before. I've never been to N'walins. Heck, I haven't even been to Lousianna before. So I started out at a decided disadvantage. That's never stopped me before - at least not when it comes to food.

One thing that I didn't know was when to add the shrimp to my stew. So I Googled it. I found a really tasty looking recipe for Shrimp Etouffee. It turns out that the website is a blog dedicated to New Orleans food and culture. I have linked to the blog in the Good Reading section. I'm guessing from a couple things that I have read there that me and the writer there probably wouldn't see eye to eye politically, but it is an interesting blog, and I don't mind making a friendship over food (we'll just stay away from politics should we ever meet!)

Anyway, I took his recipe and fiddled here and there. I made the shrimp stock. It smelled heavenly. Then I poured it into my beans and let them cook. I added a box of wild and white rice to the beans and let it cook. Then I went back and looked at the recipe. I realized that there were a few items on the list that I didn't have so I ran to the grocery store. When I got back, the cooking began in earnest. I was chopping, sauteing, and generally sweating in my steaming kitchen. I made a roux for the first time. Very cool. I'll have to try that with some other things. When it was all said and done my roux had turned into a beautiful, spicy sauce (it looked just like the picture on his recipe.) This was also added to the beans. After an all night turn in the crock pot plus a couple of extra hours I tested it out.

SON!!!!

I haven't even added the more delicate parts (shrimp, green onions, parsley) of the recipe yet and I know without a doubt that this is going in the official cookbook of my favorite recipes.

So, I really don't know what to call it. See, I know they have gumbo there and I know they have etouffee, but I really don't know the difference. Ask and ye shall receive... Here with all the authority of Ask Yahoo is the answer. There you go. It looks like it still can be classified as an etouffee. Thus, my version will be called J-touffee!

I can't wait to finish it! You should be so lucky! Oh yeah!

Beg and grovel and I may write out the recipe for you!