Shrimp Étouffée

This would be shrimp and scallop étouffée, and everybody knows there’s no such thing in the annals Cajun or Creole cuisine so we’re off to an independent start right there. No prob. Étouffée means suffocated or smothered, asphyxiated, choked or snuffed. Delightful, in’nit? Let’s stick with étouffée.

Instead of using shrimp broth, which I would do if I were on Ironic Chefs or some such, instead I used dashi katsuobushi, the long way of making it not the shortcut way. Also tossed in some clam juice left over from a Mexican shrimp cocktail that I wanted to get rid of use.

Didn’t have enough fresh tomatoes nor canned tomatoes but I did have cans of diced tomatoes with jalapeño with onions and garlic and some other spice so I used that. Sounded perfect, actually.

This time, the kombu seaweed used for the dashi was rolled and finely sliced using the julienne technique -- those French and their reticence to capitalizing their own proper nouns, how I do love them so -- and returned to the mixture because I like its interesting texture and I think its seaweedy goodness contributes considerably to the whole seafood flavor thing going on. And where else on Earth are you ever going to find such a thing. Nowhere!

* brown rice pressure cooked in equal part water on high for 35 minutes then allowed to cool on its own without hastening with a chilled douse to the closed pot. That’s cheating, and there’s no point since I’m not starving and I'm not in a race.

* Scallops quickly and briefly browned in coconut oil in a large pot separately then removed and cut. Added back to the mixture at the end. Wouldn’t do to overcook the tender little lovelies. Same with the shrimp. Added at the very end and barely cooked into the stewed mixture.

* Étouffée started with a roux made of coconut oil in place of butter, brought to peanut butter coloration.

* Southern trilogy added to roux; bell pepper (I used red, and that’s just plain wrong), celery, and onion.

* liquid (dashi and clam juice) added to roux along with canned tomato and spices. I used curry with habanero powder.

I forgot to add the canned tomatoes. Ha ha ha. I don’t care. Didn’t miss ‘em. I'm not that big on canned tomatoes anyway.