Search

Chicken Etouffeé

John Amundson
Feb 7, 2018
3 min read

I would first like to apologize for not posting anything in a while. However I think a post is long overdue so what better way to get back into it than one of my favorite dishes of all time, chicken etouffeé?

It tastes better than it looks I promise.

Today's blog post is one I've been wanting to do for a long time. Cajun cooking is something I'm not as familiar with as Chinese cooking, which is funny because I live in America, not China. My only experience with cooking Cajun food is this and jambalaya, although I've been thinking about branching out into things like blackening and the almighty gumbo. Cajun cuisine really likes its spices and that's something I like. So you'll probably be seeing more Cajun food on the blog as time goes on.

This particular recipe was adapted from the Joy of Cooking. It was actually one of the first things I ever cooked. Over time I've made some adjustments to the Joy of Cooking's recipe and eventually came up with this recipe. The Cajun spice blend I use is my own recipe. I'll be providing the recipe. If you have one you like better feel free to use it.

Since this recipe includes saffron, I'd like to include some tips for buying saffron. If it's in a big bag, is $2, and a doesn't look like tiny threads, it isn't saffron. If it's "ground saffron", it isn't saffron. The only way you should buy saffron is if it's whole threads, and sold for $20/gram. There's this thing called safflower that sneaky people will try to tell you is saffron. I saw it once for sale as saffron myself in a large bag for cheap. It's not saffron. It will give you the color of saffron but none of the flavor.

Anyways now that I'm done saying that, let's get on with the rest of the recipe. You'll need:

Etouffeé

2-3 tbsp Cajun Seasoning

4 lbs bone in chicken thighs

1 cup flour

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp liquid smoke

3 tbsp butter

1 onion, diced

1 leek, chopped (optional)

2 celery ribs, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

2 andouille sausages, cut into half-circles

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp sage

Big pinch of saffron (optional)

2 cups chicken stock

1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp hot sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Green onions for garnish

Cajun Seasoning

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar 1 tsp paprika 1 1/2 tsp thyme 1/2 tsp ground pink pepper 3/4 tsp basil 1/2 tsp chipotle 1/2 tsp marjoram 1/2 tsp garlic powder 3/4 tsp cloves 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp epazote (optional)

To make the Cajun Seasoning just combine everything and stir well.

Take the skin off the chicken thighs and rub them with the Seasoning.

Put them in a gallon ziplock bag, add the flour, and shake to cover. Heat olive oil in a pan, take the chicken out of the bag, reserving the flour for later, shake the excess flour off the chicken, and put the chicken in the pan, browning on both sides.

Transfer the chicken to a plate, dump out the olive oil, and melt 3 tbsp of butter in the pan. Once it's melted add 3 tbsp of the reserved flour and cook, whisking constantly so it doesn't burn, until it turns the color of milk chocolate and starts to smell nutty. This is your roux. If it isn't thick enough, add more flour. The nutty smell and brown color is the flour cooking. You could use it just as soon as you put the flour in but browning it gives you more flavor.

Now add the veggies and the sausage. Stir them so they get coated with the roux and cook them for 5-6 minutes. Then add the thyme and sage and cook for another minute.

Now add the Worcestershire Sauce, chicken stock, tomato paste, hot sauce and saffron. Stir to mix everything together, them return the chicken to the pan. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Once the chicken is cooked, take them out and boil the sauce uncovered to thicken it. If you had a thin roux like I did, you may need to add some cornstarch to get it to thicken. just mix 1 tsp of cornstarch with 3 tsp of the sauce then stir the resulting paste into the rest of the sauce.