Lisa's Treebeards' Shrimp Etouffee

My next door neighbors Lisa and Ric used to live near Charleston SC in Columbia and a few years back had us to dinner and served this meal.  It was so yummy it has become a favorite of ours and last Sunday was having both kids out with their SO's and decided to make this --please don't get blown away by the amount of ingredients -- it serves 6 as listed below but I doubled it so that I could send them all home with leftover meals for their week :)

1 c butter

2 2/3 cup celery chop in ½ “ pieces

2 med onions chop in ½” pieces

1 bell pepper chop in ½” pieces

1 ¼ t salt

1/8 t cayenne pepper

¾ t black pepper

¾ t garlic powder

¾ t thyme

2 c boiling water mixed with 1 t shrimp base* or chicken broth**I used chicken broth or vegetable broth**

1/8 t liquid crab boil

½ t hot sauce

4 t Worcestershire sauce

½ c flour

2 c chopped green onions including tops

1/3 c chopped fresh parsley

4 t tomato paste

2 lbs shrimp YES there appears to be a ton of shrimp in colander as that is 4# I was doubling recipe!

In heavy 5 qt dutch oven over med heat melt butter then sauté celery onion and pepper til soft about 20 min

When vegs are soft add flour and stir cooking 2 min

It will look like this initially with flour stirred in

And after the 2 min like this...

In small bowl mix spices, shrimp base or broth, crab boil, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Set aside.

Add spice mixture cook 5 more min

Stir in green onions parsley and tom paste and simmer til vegs tender

Add shrimp and cook til shrimp heat through

Serve over hot rice or grits

Serves 6

* shrimp base is shells boiled in water with salt olive oil black pepper garlic powder cayenne and vinegar