2 tb Unsalted butter

  2 1/4 c  Chopped onions

  1 1/2 c  Chopped green bell peppers

    3/4 c  Chopped celery

      3 c  Peeled & chopped tomatoes

      1 c  Canned tomato sauce

      3 tb Minced jalapeno (see note)

      2    Bay leaves

  5 1/2 ts Ground cayenne pepper

  1 1/2 ts White pepper

      1 ts Ground black pepper

  1 1/2 ts Minced garlic

  2 1/4 c  Basic seafood stock

  1 1/2 ts Dark brown sugar

    3/4 ts Salt

      2 lb Peeled large shrimp

      4 c  Hot basic cooked rice

  NOTE:  Fresh jalapenos are preferred; if you have to
  use pickled ones, rinse as much vinegar from them as
  possible.    Melt the butter in a 4-quart saucepan
  over high heat.  Add the onions, bell peppers and
  celery; saute about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, jalapenos, bay leaves,
  ground peppers and garlic; stir well.  Continue
  cooking about 3 minutes, stirring often and scraping
  the pan bottom well.  Stir in the stock, sugar and
  salt and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer
  until flavors are married, about 20 minutes, stirring
  often and scraping pan bottom as needed.  (If mixture
  scorches, quit stirring and pour mixture into a clean
  pot, leaving the scorched ingredients in the first
  pan.)    Add the shrimp to the hot (or reheated) sauce
  and stir.  Turn heat up to high, cover pan, and bring
  mixture to a boil.  Remove from heat.  Let sit covered
  for 10 minutes.  (Meanwhile, heat the serving plates
  in a 250F oven.)  Stir, remove bay leaves, and serve
  immediately.    To serve, mound 1/2 cup rice in the
  center of each heated serving plate; then pour about
  1/2 cup sauce around the rice and arrange about 8

  shrimp on top of the sauce. LAGNIAPPE:  "Piquant" to a
  Cajun means "it's hot and 'hurts like a sticker in
  your tongue.'"  If you want less "piquant," reduce the
  jalapeno peppers by half.  Sauce Piquant is enjoyed
  with such gusto in Louisiana that the town of Raceland
  has a Sauce Piquant Festival every year dedicated to
  nothing but fish, meat, fowl and seafood made with
  variations of this sauce.
  From Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen