February | 2014 | The Bachelor's Test Kitchen

It’s been awhile since I posted, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been cooking. I just haven’t cooked anything that was quite “blog worthy” in the past couple of weeks. Recently, I’ve made a jalapeño popper grilled cheese that was amazing but the cheese didn’t melt all the way. I also made a really good salad with radicchio, white beans and tuna with a mustard vinaigrette, but the pictures were not exactly incredible. So today I made shrimp étouffée with grits that was really good, and I was happy enough with it to finally do a post.

I haven’t really done any research on étouffée, so I honestly don’t know much about it. I used this recipe as a guide, but made it with shrimp, halved it and used poblano peppers instead of celery. I also used some herbs de provence and cajun seasoning that I had, and if I could do it again, I’d make this with shrimp stock, white wine and a little more corn starch to make it thicker.

Ingredients

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 large onion (or 1 small onion)

1 poblano pepper

1/2 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup water

1/2 tablespoon corn starch

1/2 cup water

Dried herbs of your choice, like oregano, thyme or herbs de provence

Cajun seasoning with salt, paprika and cayenne

Process

Dice all the vegetables small, about 1/4 inch in size. Over medium-high heat in a medium saucepan, melt the butter and add the vegetables. Season with a little salt and stir often until vegetables are softened and have given off most of their liquid, about 10 minutes.
Add the shrimp to the pot and season with the cajun spices. Continue to stir every couple of minutes. The shrimp will begin to turn pink and firm up; cook for about 10 minutes until shrimp are cooked through.
Combine the water and corn starch and add it to the pot. Stir and let the mixture thicken for another 5 minutes or so. Pour the shrimp étouffée over your choice of rice or grits and enjoy!