Crawfish Étouffée

Step 1

Make the étouffée: In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions, poblano chile, celery and garlic and cook until softened and translucent, about 8 minutes or so.

Step 2

Lower the heat and add 1 teaspoon salt, the black pepper, the thyme and the cayenne pepper. Place the thawed crawfish meat in a bowl and set it aside in the refrigerator; use your fingers to squeeze any fat or liquid you can from their packages into the pot. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.

Step 3

Add thawed crawfish tails and green onions to the pot and cook for 10 minutes, or until crawfish are tightly curled. Add parsley and cook 5 minutes more.

Step 4

While the vegetables simmer, prepare the rice: Place all ingredients in a saucepan with 3 1/2 cups water and bring to a boil. Stir, then turn the heat down to very low and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes, then take the pot off the heat. Let it rest, covered, for 5 minutes.

Step 5

Taste the étouffée and add salt as needed. Serve over the rice.