NEW ORLEANS —
Stuffed Crawfish Heads
Ingredients
1 lbs. crawfish tails
1 cups onion, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1⁄2 cup bell pepper, diced
2 Tbsp. garlic, chopped
1⁄4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2-2 cups Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
2 Tbsp, Creole seasoning
Salt, to taste
30 crawfish heads, cleaned, for stuffing
Bisque
ingredients
1 1⁄2 cups vegetable oil
1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1⁄2 cups onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1⁄2 cup bell pepper, diced
2 Tbsp. garlic chopped
3 Tbsp. Creole seasoning
1⁄4 cup tomato paste
2-3 quarts seafood stock
1 lb. crawfish tails
1 cup green onion, chopped
1⁄2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
Hot cooked white rice, optional
Stuffed Crawfish Heads
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a food processor, grind tail meat, onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, and parsley, being careful not to purée into a paste. Place in a bowl, add eggs, and stir to combine. Slowly stir in the bread- crumbs until the stuffing starts to hold together but isn’t too dry. Add Creole seasoning and salt; taste to check seasoning.
- Stuff heads with equal amounts of breadcrumb mixture. Lay on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove and set aside.
Bisque
- In a heavy bottom Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add flour and whisk until you achieve a wet sand consistency. Cook and stir constantly to create a very dark roux, about 12 minutes.
- Add onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, and Creole seasoning and sauté in roux until cooked and starting to wilt, about 3 minutes. Add tomato paste, blending thoroughly. Slowly stir in stock until the mixture begins to take on a loose sauce consistency.
- Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer; add stuffed crawfish heads and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add crawfish tails and simmer for another 10 minutes. Stir occasionally to keep heads from scorching on the bottom.
Remove from heat, stir in green onion and parsley; season with salt and pepper.
To serve, place a small mound of hot rice in the bottom of each individual soup bowl and ladle Bisque over the top.
Note:
If you do not have shells, you can take the stuffing and roll it into balls the size of a quarter and follow the recipe.
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