How to cook southern crawfish and shrimp étouffée

Turn the heat to medium & pull out a large saucepan. Once the pot is hot,melt the margarine and toss in the chopped onion and bell pepper.

**I put my onion and bell pepper in my food processor and pulsed it until chopped but not smushed.

I use a large can of condensed cream of mushroom( which was 1lb and 10oz.) but you can use 2 1/2 cans that are this size!

This is the outcome. Next, we're going to season this dish!

Cayenne pepper and cracked black pepper...

Creole/Cajun seasoning( any is fine, just make sure that the seasoning does not contain a lot of salt)

Mix in!

Add you shrimp! But beforehand, season the shrimp with your seasoning& black pepper (be sure they are deveined,peeled, and have no tail)

And crawfish. ( adding crawfish to your étouffée is totally optional! You can just add 8 ounces more of shrimp!)

Add water to thin it out a bit.

Add tomato paste and mix in

Just let this simmer at med- low heat. (Until the crawfish has heated up and shrimp had cooked through;takes about 15-20 min.)

Serve this heavenly stew over hot white rice and enjoy!