A couvillion is in the same family of the Creole/Cajun courtbouillon and the French court-bouillon. The major difference is that couvillion starts with a medium dark roux and is thick and almost stew like.

There are many different recipes, but mine is traditional and very good. It’s not difficult to make, but the roux takes time and can’t be rushed. If you burn the roux it is unusable and you will need to start over. So once you start the roux, keep stirring. I will give you a step by step to make the roux.

As I had guests over, I was unable to get a pic of the final dish, but the pic above is from the amazing meal I had at Couvillion here in Louisville. Mine looked very similar and tasted almost as good, but not quite.

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
3 Tbsp Butter
6 Tbsp Flour
1 Onion, minced
1/2 Red Pepper, minced
1/2 Green Pepper, minced
2 ribs Celery, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup White Wine
1 28oz can of Crushed Tomatoes or a large 24 oz jar of Passata
2 cups Seafood stock
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground Black Pepper
½ tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp dried Thyme Leaves
2 Bay Leaves
1 1/2 lb pound Catfish filets
2 Tbsp scallions, chopped
Rice for serving

Preparation:

Prepare your onion, celery, red and green peppers and garlic and set aside. You don’t want to be worrying with this, while you’re making your roux.

Make a medium dark roux by adding the butter, oil and flour to a cast iron pot. It will take between 30-60 minutes to get it the right color. I cooked mine slowly, so it took a full 60 minutes.

Add your white wine and reduce slightly, 5 minutes and then add your tomatoes, stock and spices and cook until thick. About 60 minutes. I always remember the advice from my very old Creole cookbook. “The mo slow it cooks the mo better it be”. Bless her.

Lay your catfish gently into the sauce, spooning a little sauce over each filet, cover and cook until firm. My filets took about 6 minutes.

Serve with rice sprinkled with your chopped green onions.