3 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 c. finely diced onions
1 c. finely diced celery
1/2 c. finely diced bell peppers
4 cloves finely minced garlic
3 sm. cans tomato paste
1 (28 oz.) can tomato sauce
3 c. concentrated chicken stock
2 c. bottled water
4 c. white shoepeg corn, drained
3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp. sweet basil
1/8 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. seafood seasoning
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper or Louisiana hot sauce
4 lb. peeled crawfish tails with fat
1/4 c. Italian flatleaf parsley
Salt to taste
6 c. cooked steamed and buttered rice

In a 5-quart heavy aluminum or Dutch oven, heat the oil to medium high, stir in the flour, toss in the onions, celery, bell pepper, and garlic, and saute the vegetables until they begin to wilt (which should take about 5 minutes or so). Be sure you stir the pot every once in a while, though, or the flour will stick!

Then add the tomato paste and combine it thoroughly with the seasoning vegetables, stirring continuously until the mixture is uniformly blended. Oh--be sure to do this over a medium-high heat as well, because you want to fry the tomato paste for a few minutes to ripen it.

Now pour in the tomato sauce, the chicken stock, and the bottled water and stir them into the mixture too. What you eventually want to end up with is a smooth and silky flavored tomato gravy, which means you're going to have to continue to cook this mixture for another 5 minutes or so.

At this point, stir in the corn and drop in the bay leaves, lemon zest, sweet basil, seafood seasoning, and the cayenne pepper and mix everything together well (still over medium-high heat). Then cover the pot, reduce the heat to low and simmer the gravy for about 25-30 minutes until all the flavors have married.

5 minutes before you're ready to eat, stir in the minced parsley and the crawfish tails, stir everything together one more time, and simmer covered over a low fire for 5 to 10 minutes until piping hot and bubbly. Salt to taste at this point.

All that's left is to fill a soup bowl with hot buttered rice and ladle heaping scoops of the Creole generously over the top. Serve it with hot baked French bread and a chilled mixed salad that's been tossed with remoulade dressing.