Crawfish Etoufee

In heavy 5-6 quart pot or kettle, melt the butter over low heat. Gradually add the flour, stirring constantly. Cook over low heat until a medium brown roux is formed, about 15 - 20 minutes. Quickly add the onions, green pepper, celery, and garlic and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are glazed and tender, about 20 minutes. Add the crawfish tails, crawfish fat, salt, black pepper, cayenne, cumin, lemon juice, green onion tops, and parsley and mix well. Add the cold water and bring to a boil, or until the crawfish tails are just tender. Shortly before serving, heat toe etoufee slowly over low heat and gradually add 1 - 2 c. hot water to provide the gravy. Serve over boiled rice. NOTES : A classic southwestern Louisiana Cajun dish, a spicy hot stew is always served with rice. You will need about 2 1/2 to 3 doz crawfish to prepare this. If you obtain live ones, parboil them for 3-4 minutes to make peeling easy. Be sure to scoop out and save the fat that is in the heads, it is an essential part of the stock. Frozen crawfish, where available, greatly simplify the preparation.