Recipe(tried): Shrimp Creole

I have made this recipe a number of times. Serve it over hot, fluffy, long grain rice (Uncle Ben's Original), with a green salad of your choice and crusty bread.

Shrimp Creole

1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup flour
1 lb. fully peeled, deveined raw shrimp
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup onion, minced
1/2 cup green pepper, minced
1 cup water
2 tsp. salt
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, minced

To make the roux, combine oil and flour in a heavy skillet (black cast iron if you have one.) Heat to medium-high heat, stirring constantly until it is light brown (the color of a copper penny). Transfer the roux to another large (12 inch) skillet. (The reason I suggest this is because of the tomato sauce in the sauce. Since it is acidic, I don't like to make the entire dish in the cast iron pan.)

Heat the roux to medium heat and add the garlic, onion, and green pepper. Cook 3 or 4 minutes.

Gradually add the water, tomato sauce, cayenne and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook, covered 20 to 30 minutes.

Uncover and raise the heat to medium. Add the shrimp and cook 4 or 5 minutes, depending on the size of shrimp you use, turning the shrimp over halfway through cooking. Stir in the chopped parsley and serve over hot rice.

Note: You can double the roux, using half for the recipe and refrigerate the other half (tightly covered) until the next time you need it for this or for gumbo. It will keep a long time, tightly covered in the refrigerator.