Cook up a Cajun feast with these crawfish recipes

Published: Mar/Apr 2002

From the Cafe des Amis in Beaux Bridge, La., comes the following “kitchenized” version of the Cajun classic, crawfish étouffée. Cafe owner Cynthia Breaux says it’s not the same as the original recipe, which “had more crawfish and a thinner sauce.”

Etouffée

Ingredients:

Stock:
3 qts. water
24 boiled crawfish heads (see note)
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 tbs. Creole seasoning
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. white pepper

Blond Roux:
1 1/2 tsp. granulated garlic
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 tbs. chicken base
2 tbs. paprika

Sauce:
2 lbs crawfish tail meat
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

Directions:

Stock: Place water, crawfish heads, creole seasoning and cayenne in eight-quart stockpot. Bring to boil and simmer 15 minutes. Strain and reserve six cups stock. Keep warm.

Roux: Melt one stick butter in 12-inch frying pan. Gradually stir in flour, cook and stir five to six minutes over medium-low heat, or until roux has a blond color. Cool slightly.

Sauce: Melt butter in 10-inch frying pan. Add onion, green pepper and celery and cook until softened. Add cayenne, black and white pepper, garlic, chicken base and paprika. Stir until well-blended. Reheat roux over medium heat. Gradually add six cups crawfish stock to roux, stirring to blend. Add sauce mixture to roux, then add crawfish. Cook over low heat until slightly thickened. Serve over rice.

Note: If you don't have heads, make a seafood stock with fish bouillon or shrimp.

Crawfish Cornbread
(From the kitchen of the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival Association)

Ingredients:

1 cup white cornmeal 1/2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt 1/4 cup cooking oil
1 can cream-style corn 2 eggs
1/2 lb. grated cheddar cheese 3 chopped jalapeno peppers
1 cup chopped onions 1 lb. chopped crawfish

Directions:

Place ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Pour into lightly greased 8x10 baking pan. Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Contents may not be reproduced in whole or in part unless expressly authorized in writing by AAA Traveler Magazines.

Copyright © 1999 - 2007 AAA Traveler Magazine | 12901 N. Forty Dr. | St. Louis, MO 63141