Prawn Etouffee

Name: Prawn Etouffee
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Southern
Ingredients: Unsalted butter; Cornflour; Onion; Celery; Red pepper; Garlic; Shellfish or chicken stock; Tinned plum tomatoes; Raw peeled prawns; Flat-leaf parsley; Black pepper; Salt; Worcestershire sauce; Lemon juice; Skimmed milk powder

256 kcal a serving, against 342 for the traditional version. That is 86 kcal off, or 25%, with 31.1g of protein. Serves 4. 1 hour.

What the traditional version is

Butter and plain flour cooked together to make a blonde roux, the base for onion, celery and pepper. Add shellfish stock, tomatoes, and simmer. Finish with raw prawns, parsley and more butter. Serve over rice.

What changed, and what each change costs

80g butter down to 25g

The original is generous with the butter for flavour and mouthfeel. Most of it goes into the roux, so by cutting two thirds and using cornflour, you'll make up for lost thickening.

What it costs you. The sauce doesn't have that gloss or depth. You don't get a nutty browned taste, and it's not as seductive. It's honest, but no one will mistake it for the version you get in a Louisiana diner.

50g plain flour for 15g cornflour

Cornflour is a faster, lighter thickener. It lets you get to the right consistency without the fat, and tastes of more or less nothing.

What it costs you. You lose all the subtle toasty notes from the roux. It's functional but a bit one-note. There's no getting round it: the original was better here.

320g prawns up to 520g

With less fat in the pot, you can afford more prawns. That's a straight win for protein and for the feeling of abundance.

What it costs you. The dish is all about the shellfish now. That's not a bad thing, unless you liked the sauce more than the prawns in the first place. Your agenda's obvious, but it works.

Add 15g skimmed milk powder

Brings a hint of that lost dairy back in, without the calories. It won't fool anyone, but it helps.

What it costs you. Still not the same as butter richness, but it's better than nothing.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Unsalted butter
Cornflour
Onion
Celery
Red pepper
Garlic
Shellfish or chicken stock
Tinned plum tomatoes
Raw peeled prawns
Flat-leaf parsley
Black pepper
Salt
Worcestershire sauce
Lemon juice
Skimmed milk powder

How it starts

Chop onion, celery and pepper small.
Melt the butter in a wide pan over medium heat.
Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Southern.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	342	256
Protein	22.3g	31.1g
Fat	18.5g	7.5g
Saturated fat	10.7g	3.8g
Carbohydrate	22.9g	17g
Protein per 100 kcal	6.5g	12.1g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Southern prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. celery, crustaceans, fish, milk.

The method is in the book

Swapping roux for cornflour and piling on the prawns makes this leaner, but the price is all in the sauce. It's still good, especially for weekday cooking, but if you're after that true Cajun luxury, you'll miss the deep gloss of butter. You get a prawn-heavy stew that's hearty, lively and honest. No one will write home about the sauce, but you'll clean your plate.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Southern, along with 50 more. Buy the paperback