What is Emeril's recipe for crawfish étouffée?

 Emeril Lagasse says the word étouffée means "smothered," and in Cajun and Creole cooking refers to anything cooked in its own juices, sometimes with a bit of water or other liquids as well. The evaporation is kept to a minimum so that the flavors stay intense. His book Louisiana Real & Rustic includes the following recipe for Crawfish Étouffée

Crawfish Étouffée

Melt 1/4 pound of butter (one stick) in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 cups of chopped onions, 1 cup of chopped celery, and 1/2 cup of chopped bell peppers and sauté for 10 to 12 minutes, until the onions are soft and golden. Add a pound of peeled crawfish tails and 2 bay leaves. Reduce the heat to medium, stir occasionally and cook "until the crawfish begin throwing off a little liquid" — another 10 to 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, dissolve a tablespoon of flour in a cup of water. Add it to the crawfish mixture and season with a teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Stir about four minutes until the mixture thickens. Add 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley and 3 tablespoons of chopped green onions and cook for another 2 minutes. As always, remove the bay leaves before serving.

We resisted the urge to kick this answer up a notch by inserting the word BAM! before the addition of each ingredient — and are pretty proud of our self-restraint.

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