Fried ravioli topped crawfish cream sauce

I had crawfish in the freezer, saw the ravioli also in my freezer and remembered the awesome food I had at The Cheesecake Bistro in Baton Rouge, LA. I can't drive to Louisiana...at least not at this moment, so I had to make myself. Here's my version....

1 package of cheese ravioli (freezer aisle)
2 eggs
1/3 cup italian bread crumbs

Cajun seasoning
vegetable oil

1 stick of butter(melted)
5 cloves of garlic, minced
4 green onions chopped
3 tablespoons finely chopped red bell pepper
1 1/2 pounds peeled crawfish tails
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
1/8 teaspoon oregano
salt
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
12 ounces half and half
1 1/2 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese 

Mix the cajun seasoning and italian bread crumbs together. Then drop your raviolis in the egg wash, then in the breading and place on a platter to wait to fry. Turn your oil on to heat when you start cooking the sauce, this should give it enough time to heat up.

Place butter in a large pan, when the butter melts add red bell pepper and garlic. Cook until soft but not browned. Stir frequently. Add your green onions, crawfish tails, thyme, rosemary, oregano, and a dash of salt. cook until crawfish are warm. Add in flour making a sorta paste, then start adding your half and half. Stir frequently just so sauce simmers. Cook until the sauce gets thick and creamy. Watch your sauce it can begin to stick if not stirred consistently.  

While your sauce is cooking, start dropping the raviolis in the oil to fry. Once the raviolis are golden, take them out and place them on some paper towels so they don't soak up oil.

When the sauce has thickened, turn the heat off and add stir in the parmesan cheese. Serve and top with a parmesan cheese. 

Crawfish pasta sauce

*****WARNING****** This is NOT healthy, I repeat this is NOT healthy!!!

Ok so now that that has been said, I also want to say this ish is, in the words of Kai(my son), "This is sasayzing!!!"

Crawfish season has been upon is and so far it has been an amazing season!!! Ben has perfected the boil and I'm pretty impressed but what to do with the leftover tails IF there's any??? Well here's a recipe got you. It's crawfish pasta sauce. Get your favorite pasta and just add this. Enjoy......and Eat on!!!!

Ingredients:

1 lb Louisiana Crawfish Tails
1/4 cup Canola oil
2 cups Onions, small dice
1 cup Green bell peppers, small dice
1 cup Red bell peppers, small dice
2 Tbsp Creole seasoning
4 cups Heavy cream,
1/2 cup Green onions, divided
1 cup Tomatoes, canned, diced
1/4 cup Sherry cooking wine
2 sprigs Fresh thyme
1 ea Bay leaf
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions:

Heat canola oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and sauté until translucent, but with no color (about 5 minutes). Add green and red bell peppers and Creole seasoning. Combine 4 cups cream, tomatoes, garlic, sherry, thyme, and bay leaf in large sauce pot. Bring to simmer and cook until reduced by 1/2. Strain into sauce pot and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add crawfish. Garnish with 1/2 cup chopped green onions. Mix with your favorite pasta and ENJOY!!!!

Picture courtesy of my BF: Esmirna Sarceno :)

Crawfish Pie

Ok so the first time I ever had this savory pie I thought I heard Angels.....from that day on I have decided that I was going to recreate this fantastic dish. And at $13 a slice it was a more economical choice for my addiction to make it myself and spend around $20 for the whole pie!!!

So I offer you this wonderful gift to the culinary world!!! Be ready to be the star chef of your Casa!!!!!

Ingredients

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped bell peppers
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup chopped canned tomatoes
2 pound crawfish tails
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/4 cup water
Store bought refrigerated Pie Crust

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions, bell peppers, celery, salt, cayenne, and black pepper. Saute for about 8 minutes, or until golden and wilted. Add the tomatoes and cook for about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the crawfish tails and parsley. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 4 minutes. Dissolve the flour in the water and add to the pan. Stir for about 2 minutes, or until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat. Let cool for at least 30 minutes. Place the crust in the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan and crimp the edges. Pour the crawfish mixture into the pie crust. Place the pie on a baking sheet and bake for about 45 minutes, or until the edges of the pie crust are golden. Cool for several minutes. Cut and ENJOY!!

Crawfish Chowder......fat free as possible!!

Ok so since coming into my husbands family I've been introduced to one of the most delicious ways to use crawfish......CHOWDER!!! I'm pretty sure that each one of my SIL's and MIL have their own recipes....well this is mine. Easy and as fat free as I could get it.....lol!!! Enjoy!!


unsalted butter
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped
2 pounds frozen crawfish, cleaned
2 (10.75 ounce) cans health smart cream of potato soup
1 (10.75 ounce) can 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup
1 (15.25 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
4 ounces fat free cream cheese, softened
2 cups fat free half-and-half cream
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

One thing about frozen crawfish is that it can be "fishy"....gross. So what I do is I rinse of crawfish in colander until water is clear, then I take a lemon and squeeze the juice of the whole lemon on them while their in colander, mix around and just let them sit until you need them. Then rinse and use!!

Directions

Melt 6tbsp of butter in a large pot over medium heat. Saute green onions in butter until tender. Remove from pan, and set aside. In the same skillet sauté the crawfish for a couple of minutes; set aside.

Combine potato soup, mushroom soup, corn, and cream cheese. Mix well, and bring to a slow boil. Stir in half-and-half, sautéed green onions, and crawfish. Season with cayenne pepper. Bring to a low boil, and simmer a couple of minutes to blend flavors.

ENJOY!!!