We can always rely on Mom & Dad Cook to impress us with a fun top-notch dish, and this is as good an example as we can think of: rich, flavorful Étouffée with meaty chunks of chicken, big succulent shrimp, and some spicy Andouille Sausage.

We had never had Étouffée before and the ingredient list is a little daunting, we know. It turns out, though, that it’s a surprisingly easy dish to make. Basically it starts much like a gravy with a nice roux. To this we add some classic Cajun flavors and nestle it all in a lovely, fluffy wild rice blend.

This recipe began as Shrimp Étouffée in Cooking Light magazine and, under the deft and gifted guidance of our folks, it blossomed into something big and beautiful. The original recipe looks like this (stolen directly from this site in true intertubes fashion):

• 4  cups  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1  teaspoon  dried thyme (go with fresh!!)
• 1  teaspoon  dried basil (go with fresh!!)
• 1  bay leaf (go with…no, wait…dried is okay in this instance)
• 1/3  cup  butter, divided
• 1/2  cup  all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 ounces)
• Cooking spray
• 1 1/2  cups  chopped onion
• 2/3  cup  diced celery
• 1/2  cup  chopped red bell pepper
• 1/2  cup  chopped green bell pepper
• 3/4  cup  water
• 1/4  cup  tomato paste
• 1  tablespoon  salt-free Cajun seasoning (no idea what kind…call it ‘artistic license’)
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  minced garlic
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground red pepper
• 1  teaspoon  Worcestershire sauce (say ‘worcestershire’ 3 times really fast while you add it. It’s pronounced something like ‘wer-sher-chester-shooster-shire’ or something)
• 1/2  cup  chopped green onions
• 1/2  cup  chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided
• 1  pound  medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (about 30 shrimp)
• 4  cups  hot cooked long-grain rice (we used a nice, tidy, local wild rice blend)

Preparation

1. Combine first 4 ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat; bring to a simmer. Cover and remove from heat.

2. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Add flour to pan; cook 8 minutes or until very brown, stirring constantly with a whisk. Remove from heat. Add 1 cup broth mixture to pan; stir with a whisk until smooth. Add remaining 3 cups broth mixture, stirring with a whisk until smooth; set aside.

3. Melt remaining 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon butter in a large Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add 1 1/2 cups onion, celery, and bell peppers to pan; cook 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender and onion is golden brown, stirring occasionally. Stir in 3/4 cup water, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add tomato paste, Cajun seasoning, garlic, salt, black pepper, and red pepper to onion mixture; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add reserved broth-flour mixture and Worcestershire sauce to pan, stirring well to combine; bring to a simmer. Cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add green onions, 1/4 cup parsley, and shrimp; cook 3 minutes or until shrimp are done. Discard bay leaf. Serve over rice. Sprinkle each serving with 2 teaspoons remaining parsley, if desired.

Mom & Dad added some Chicken Breast and Andouille Sausage chunks just before the veggies in step 2, other than that they stayed as true to the original recipe as they ever have…which is to say ‘they had fun and kind of looked at the recipe every so often’…so have fun!