Cajun Crawfish Etouffee

I simply love crawfish, suck the head, squeeze the tip!
The orange fat found in the heads of crawfish adds
extra richness and flavor to dishes.
Since it's difficult to find crawfish fat
outside of southern Louisiana, butter is
a good substitute for the crawfish fat.

Ingredients:
1 pound fresh or frozen peeled crawfish tails or shrimp
2 large onions, chopped (1-1/2 cups)
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green sweet pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup cooking oil, margarine, or butter
2 tablespoons crawfish fat*, margarine, or butter
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1 cup water
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Hot cooked rice
Directions:
1. Thaw crawfish or shrimp, if frozen.

2. In a heavy, 3-quart saucepan cook onions, celery, green sweet pepper, and garlic, covered, in oil, margarine, or butter about 10 minutes or until tender. Add crawfish fat, margarine, or butter, stirring until melted. Stir in cornstarch.

3. Stir in crawfish or shrimp, water, tomato sauce, salt, red pepper, and black pepper. Bring mixture to boiling. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes or until crawfish are tender or shrimp turn opaque. Serve with hot cooked rice. Makes 4 servings.