Crawfish Pirogue Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Toss crawfish tails with Creole seasoning in a bowl.
• Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and green bell pepper; cook and stir until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic. Thin mixture with 1 cup water. Stir in crawfish tails; season with black pepper.
• Whisk cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl until smooth. Pour into the saucepan, stirring constantly, until crawfish mixture thickens, about 5 minutes.
• Cut tops off bread loaves; hollow out center to create a "boat." Place bread loaves on a baking sheet; spoon crawfish mixture into the center.
• Bake in the preheated oven until bread is warm and lightly toasted, about 10 minutes.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven's broiler and set the oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source. Grease a 2-quart casserole dish with cooking spray.
• Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the chopped onion and shallots; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until the chicken stock has reduced to half its original volume, about 5 minutes. Pour in the heavy cream; whisk in the Dijon mustard, horseradish, cayenne pepper, paprika, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• While the sauce is cooking, melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic and green onions; cook and stir until the aroma of the garlic has mellowed, about 5 minutes. Add the crawfish tails and cook until hot. Stir the crawfish mixture into the sauce along with the Parmesan cheese. Pour into the prepared casserole dish and sprinkle with bread crumbs.
• Cook under the preheated broiler until the bread crumbs are golden brown. Let stand for a few minutes before serving.

Steps:

• Melt butter in a large skillet on medium heat, then stir in flour; cook until light brown, about 10 minutes. Add sweet onion, green pepper, celery, and green onions. Cover and simmer on low heat for about one hour, stirring occasionally.
• Stir in vegetable broth and tomato paste, and cook until it reaches a creamy consistency. Mix in crawfish tails, garlic, and parsley, then cook for about 15 minutes or until the tails are tender. Stir in salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and hot sauce.
• Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake the puff pastry shells for 5 to 7 minutes, or until they puff up and start to brown a little. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Pull off center tops and save. Turn oven down to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Spoon mixture into puff pastry shells until slightly overfilled. Put extra filling into a pie dish and cover with the remaining puff pastry shell center tops to create 6 small pies and 1 large crawfish pie. Place pies on a baking sheet.
• Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the shells are golden brown and the filling has a nice shine to it.

Steps:

• 1. Crawfish Etouffee In a skillet, sauté onions, bell pepper, green onions, bay leaf, garlic, and parsley in butter and olive oil for 5 minutes. Add cornstarch and thicken for about a minute. Add crawfish tails, white wine, 1 cup of water and stir. Add white pepper, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and Tony. Cook on low for about 15 minutes. Add half and half then cook on very low for 5 more minutes. Set aside and keep warm.
• 2. Shrimp Scampi Melt butter in a skillet. Add garlic and olive oil. Let sauté for a couple of minutes (do not brown garlic). Add shrimp and sauté lightly. Add chopped mushrooms, oregano, basil, parsley, Tony and cayenne pepper. Stir for one minute then pour in sherry, and sprinkle in cornstarch. Saute for 3 minutes.
• 3. Smothered Alligator in Cream Sauce In a skillet, heat vegetable oil until it begins to smoke slightly. Add sugar in center of hot oil until sugar turns dark brown (could be black in some spots). Immediately add alligator meat into hot sugar oil. All pieces should be coated with the sugar and oil. Stir slightly. Add flour, onions, parsley, onion tops, garlic, peppers, Tony, and nutmeg. Stir a few times until the bottom of skillet turns brown. This is the seasoning roux. Pour in white wine and a 1 1/2 cup of water. Cover and smother for 15 minutes on low, stiring occasionally. Gravy will become thick, add half and half, butter and simmer for 5 minutes on very low. Set aside.
• 4. Eggplants (The Pirogues) Heat oil in a deep fryer at 375 to 400 degrees. Mix flour, Tony, black pepper, and white pepper in a flat dish. Wash, then dry eggplants. Cut eggplants long ways from the middle about ½ inch thick. You should get about three slices from each eggplant. Dip each slice one at a time into the flour mixture, then the eggs, then flour, then eggs, then seasoned bread crumbs. Press the bread crumbs into each eggplant making sure all sides are well coated. Deep fry the eggplants (Pirogues) until golden brown about 3 minutes. Set aside.
• 5. Grilled Catfish Coat each catfish with Italian dressing. Rub with garlic, paprika and Tony. Oil a section of a hot grill for 6 catfish. Add butter then grill each catfish on both sides until brown. About 2 minutes each side.
• 6. How to Serve Place each fried eggplant in the middle of a serving plate. Put a grilled catfish on top of each fried eggplant. Top each grilled catfish with crawfish etouffee. Put shrimp scampi (about 4 to 6 shrimp) on one side of your Pirogue and smothered alligator on the other. Sprinke with fresh chopped parsley. Voila! Taste Wonderful. Only hot garlic toast and a glass of Riesling could make this better. Chef Scott