In which The Hungry Lady makes étouffée

I don't know about y'all, but my friends and I are pretty big True Blood fans.  L, M, and I get together just about every Sunday for dinner and Alexander Skarsgaard vampires.  This season, we've somehow managed to make food that relates to the show - for the premiere, we pretended we were at Merlotte's, and made a bunch of fried things.  We've also had jambalaya.  This past Sunday it was my turn to cook.  As my usual cooking repertoire includes pasta or anything that can go in the microwave, I figured I had to expand a little bit.  I decided to make étouffée.  And I also made sure to put the number of the nearest Chinese restaurant on speed dial.


So what is étouffée, you ask?  Think gumbo, only a little thicker.  Peppers, onions, spices, and some kind of protein mixed together and served over rice.  Usually the protein is some kind of seafood - shrimp and/or crawfish being the most common.  Clearly my étouffée wasn't going to involve either of those as I wouldn't have been able to eat it.  I decided to use chicken and sausage instead.