Recipe: Pappadeaux Snapper Pontchartrain

PAPPADEAUX SNAPPER PONTCHARTRAIN
Source: Houston Chronicle - Pappadeaux Restaurant
The best recipes of 30 years: 1966-1996
Servings: 6

"Published in the "Recipe Quest" column on Oct. 18, 1995, this has been one of the Food section's most requested recipes of the '90s. It is from Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen (several locations). The restaurant servings are prodigious (they allow 8 ounces fish per serving). In retesting the recipe, we adjusted some proportions of ingredients to avoid leftover flour mixture."- The Food Chronicles, Ann Criswell, Food Editor

24 medium fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined (reserve shells)
1/2 cup onions, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
5 cups water
1 1/8 cups unsalted butter, divided
4 tablespoons flour, plus
2 cups flour, divided use
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh garlic
1/4 cup chopped yellow onions
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce (Tabasco)
1/3 cup madeira wine
1 tablespoon salt, to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
6 (8 ounces each) fresh red snapper fillets (or other white- fleshed mild fish)
fresh lemon juice
6 ounces crab claws or backfin crab meat

Combine reserved shrimp shells, chopped vegetables and water in a large stockpot; simmer over medium heat until liquid is reduced to 3 cups, about 30 minutes; strain and set aside.

Make a roux in a heavy saucepan by melting 4 tablespoons butter until it begins to turn brown.

Slowly whisk in 4 tablespoons flour until mixture thickens to a paste; cook until it turns a light, golden brown. Remove from heat and set aside.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in another saucepan. Add garlic and onion and saute over medium heat 2 minutes.

Add crushed bouillon cube, pepper sauce and shrimp stock. Stir and let simmer.

While the stock is simmering, melt 1 stick plus 1 1/3 tablespoons butter in a separate saucepan, stirring, until it turns golden brown; set aside.

Add roux to stock mixture and stir to incorporate, then simmer 3 to 5 minutes.

Add brown butter to stock and whisk until incorporated and emulsified. Whisk in Madeira until incorporated. Set sauce aside and keep warm while the fish fillets are cooking.

Mix salt, paprika, garlic powder and cayenne into remaining 2 cups flour. Dip fish fillets in lemon juice, then into seasoned flour to coat.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in large heated skillet over medium heat. Place fillets in skillet and cook until golden brown and completely cooked, about 4 minutes per side.

While the fish is cooking, saute the peeled shrimp in 1 tablespoon butter just until they turn pink (do not overcook).

Add shrimp and crab to Madeira sauce. Spoon 4 shrimp and a couple ounces of heated sauce over fillets and serve.