Crawfish Etouffee

• ½ cup oil or margarine
• ½ flour
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 large celery stalk, finely chopped
• 3 fat cloves garlic, minced
• 2 ½ cup fairly rich shrimp broth
• 1 Tblsp lemon
• ½ cup crawfish fat (substitute 3-4 Tblsp crawfish liquid or crawfish stock)*
• 1 Tblsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt (omit if using crawfish stock)
• 1 Tblsp fresh parsley (1 tsp dried)
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• ½ tsp black pepper
• ½ tsp thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 lb frozen crawfish, all liquid included
• 2 large scallion tops, sliced cooked converted rice

Make a medium dark roux by whisking the flour into the oil over medium heat and cooking, stirring constantly, until the mixture is the color of chocolate.

Add the onion along with the celery and garlic, and sautee over medium low heat until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.

Slowly add the shrimp stock, and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, and add lemon juice, crawfish fat/stock/liquid, and the spices.

Simmer 15 minutes. Add the crawfish and any liquid, bring to a rapid simmer, reduce to a low simmer, add the scallions, and simmer just until the crawfish are tender, about 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings.

To serve, mound some rice in a plate, and ladle some of the etouffee on top. This recipe makes about 4 servings.

Note: Crawfish fat gives the dish its characteristic flavor. In New Orleans, it can be bought in the stores, but it's tough to find elsewhere, so substitute. If you do find it, keep it refrigerated, as it is very perishable. By crawfish liquid, I mean any run off from frozen crawfish. Whenever you use crawfish for another reason (making Cajun popcorn, say), you should save any liquid from the inside of the package that remains after defrosting. This liquid is mainly water, but it will be orange in color from the crawfish fat and meat. Finally, to make crawfish stock, take a dozen or so crawfish heads left over from a crawfish boil, and cover with some of the left over cooking liquid or water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for several hours. At the end of simmering, strain the stock, and reduce in half. Be careful when using this stock because it will be very salty. Omit any salt from the recipe, and adjust at the end.

Biscuit Topped Seafood Gumbo Pie

Gumbo:

• 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons butter
• ¾ pound smoked sausage, sliced
• ¾ pound cooked bonelss ham steak, cut into 2 by ¼ inch strips
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ green bell pepper, chopped
• ½ red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 small celery rib, minced
• 3 tablespoons rice
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ¾ pound shrimp, shelled
• ½ pound okra, sliced salt and freshly ground black pepper

Biscuit topping:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 6 ½ tablespoons cold butter
• ¾ cup buttermilk

Make the gumbo: In a heavy medium skillet, combine 3 tablespoons of the oil with the flour and cook over moderatly low heat, stirring occasionally, until the roux is dark mahogany in color, about 1 hour. Do not let burn. Immediately remove from heat.

In a medium flameproof casserole, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter with the remaining 1 teaspoon oil. Add the sliced sausage and cook over moderate heat until well browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon. Add the ham strips to the casserole and cook until lightly browned, about 7 minutes; add to the plate with the sausage slices.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and the onion to the casserole. Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until softened and translucent, about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to moderately low and add the garlic, green and red bell peppers, celery and rice. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes longer.

Reheat the brown roux if necessary. Scrape it into the casserole with the vegetables and rice. Stir in the chicken stock and lemon juice. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the sausages and ham, reduce the heat to moderately low and cook, covered, for 25 minutes.

Stir in the cayenne, shrimp and okra and season with salt and black pepper to taste. Cook, stirring once or twice, for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Make the topping: Preheat the oven to 450°. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Cut in the 5 ½ tablespoons of the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the buttermilk until a soft dough forms.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough ½ inch thick. Using a 2 ½ inch round cutter, stamp out 12 biscuits.

Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Pour the hot gumbo into a shallow 9 inch round baking dish. Arrange the bicuits on top and brush with the melted butter. Bake until the biscuits are puffed and golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

• 1 package chicken thighs (6 count)
• ½ package Hilshire Farms Polish Kielbasa (or other smoked sausage), sliced
• ½ bell pepper, chopped
• 5 stalks celery, chopped
• 3 large white onions, chopped (DO NOT use a food processor)
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
• ¼ cup peanut oil
• 2 cups white rice (regular white rice. NOT Minute rice!!!)
• 2 ½ cups water
• 1 12oz beer (Budweiser works fine)
• flour to coat chicken
• 1 ½ teaspoons Rosemary
• 1 teaspoon Thyme
• A handful of chopped parsley (hard to put too much)
• Salt to taste
• Lots of cayenne pepper

Start off by washing the chicken and placing it skin side down on a plate (you can remove the skin if you want). Now, depending on how spicy you want it, coat the chicken with Cayenne pepper until very red (I use a LOT of Cayenne in mine). Don't worry about getting it too hot, since this is the majority of the pepper you are going to add and it will cook into the rest of the dish. Turn the chicken pieces over and lightly coat the skin side. Let sit for 15 minutes or so to soak it all up.

Heat the oil in the bottom of a large heavy cast iron or aluminum pot (don't use thin aluminum or stainless steel since the rice will tend to stick and burn if you're not really careful). Place the flour in a paper bag (season the flour lightly with salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, garlic powder, etc). Place a couple of pieces of chicken at a time into the bag and shake to coat.

Fry the chicken in the oil until golden brown. Don't worry about cooking it all the way through just yet. Remove the chicken. Now place the onions, celery, garlic and bellpepper into the pot (along with a bit more oil if necessary) and saute them until the onions are transparent, scraping the bottom of the pot often. Add the rosemary, thyme and parsley and cook for a minute or so.

Place the sausage slices, chicken, and a little water into the pot and mix well with the vegetables. Turn heat low, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes (until the chicken is tender). Stir the mixture frequently, always scraping the bottom to keep things from burning (break the chicken up a bit with the spatula as it cooks. It should break up naturally as the dish cooks, but this just helps things a little).

When the chicken is cooked, add the washed rice and stir it into everything for a couple of minutes. Pour the warm beer and the water in and stir things for another minute or so. Taste it at this point and adjust the salt if necessary. Now, keeping the heat low, cover the pot and cook until the rice is tender (anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour). Stir the mixture every now and then, scraping the bottom of the pot.

Red Beans and Rice

• 1 pound red beans, soaked overnight
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 bunch of green onions, chopped
• 7 cloves of garlic, chopped
• ½ cup parsley
• 1 rib celery, chopped
• ½ cup ketchup
• 1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons tabasco sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• salt and pepper
• 1 pound smoked sausage cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 pound pickled pork, rinsed and cut into cubes
• Cooked Rice

Drain the beans. Put them in a large heavy pot and add 3 quarts of fresh water. Cover and simmer for one hour or until the beans are tender. Watch that the water does not boil down too far. The beans must be covered with water at all times. Add the rest of the ingredients, except for the rice. Add more water to cover if needed. Simmer for 1 to 1 ½ hours or until the liquid has thickened. Serve over rice.