1 stick butter
1 c. finely chopped celery
1/2 c. finely chopped celery
1/2 c. finely chopped bell pepper
2 c. crawfish stock (or chicken stock)
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
3 cloves minced garlic
4 tbsp. tomato sauce
2 lb. peeled crawfish tails with fat
1 c. finely chopped green onion tops
1/4 c. finely chopped parsley
2 tbsp. cornstarch in 1 c. water
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. black pepper
Salt to taste

First, take a 12 inch skillet and melt the butter until it begins to foam. Then toss in the onion, celery and bell pepper; saute them over medium heat until they turn clear (about 4-5 minutes).

Now, at this point, if you were successful in extracting the fat from the crawfish, stir it into the butter-vegetable mixture and cook everything on low for about 20 minutes. If you didn't get enough fat, don't worry about it. Go ahead and add your crawfish (or chicken) stock, your tomato sauce, your lemon juice and your garlic and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.

About 15 minutes before you're ready to eat, stir in the crawfish tails, half the onion tops, half the parsley, the salt and the pepper and let the etouffee simmer so that the flavor will blend.

After 15 minutes, turn the fire up to medium high and stir in your cornstarch mixture to the consistency you desire (which should be nothing more than a light sauce only thick enough to coat a spoon). At this point, you should also readjust your seasonings: More salt, more cayenne, more tomato sauce. Remember, a true etouffee is "rose colored", not red!

Now... take the skillet off the fire and let it "marry" for 20 minutes so that all the flavors come together. This is an important part of the etouffee process - - you shouldn't skit it!