Marie’s Seafood Courtboullion Recipe (Koo-bee-yon)

1 stick of real butter

1 large or 3 regular sweet onions

3 ribs celery

~3 cups seafood stock or water

2 cans tomato paste

Roux (if jarred, Kary’s)

1 can of Rotel

1 1/2 lbs  catfish fillets (larger/fatter the better)

1 lb peeled Gulf shrimp

1 lb crawfish tails w the fat

Cajun Seasoning (Zateran’s or T-Coon’s The Stuff)

Melt a stick of  butter, sauté sweet onions and a bit of celery;

add a bit of water or seafood stock, about a cup to start

Add 2 cans tomato paste and one can of roux (use the paste can to measure) If you use jarred roux, I like Kary’s.

Add one can of Rotel and season to taste  (I use either Zateran’s or T-Coon’s The Stuff)  Cook that on low for about an hour and a half.  add liquid as needed but toward the end, let it thicken up. (you’re going to add it to the fish w/ water in the next step, so this “gravy” needs to be pretty thick.

Remove the crawfish from the bag and put a little water in the bag to rinse and use all the yellow “fat” in the bag. season the crawfish tails in a bowl, pour the water/fat from the bag with it.      In a separate pot, season the fish and shrimp and cook it in water (just enough to cover the fish) when the fish is almost cooked—that won’t take long—just a few minutes, add the crawfish (crawfish tails are already cooked, just heating them up)  Most, but not all of the water will be cooked out when the fish is done.  Turn it off and gently add the thick gravy to the watery fish folding gently as not to break up the fish.  shake the pot from side to side to mix evenly w/o too much stirring.

Serve over rice.  Yumm!