Crawfish Balls Food

CRAWFISH BALLS

Steps:

• In a medium pot warm crawfish thoroughly on low heat. Stir in 1 teaspoon of Louisiana crawfish boil mix (I used 1 tablespoon because I like it spicy) use up to 1 tablespoon if you want it spicy. Remove crawfish from heat once warmed. Stir in lemon juice, mix well and set aside.
• Chop onion, garlic, and green onion in food processoror chopper
• Using a strainer to drain all the liquid from the crawfish, once drained then place crawfish in the food processor on top of the chopped vegetable
• Chop the crawfish up into pieces be careful not to make the crawfish mushy; they should be chunky.
• Pour the crawfish mixture into a large mixing bowl, add remaining ingredients. Chop the parsley with a knife.
• Mix ingredients well with clean hands or use gloves.
• Shape crawfish mixture into golf size balls. Place on a cookie sheet. Should make 20 balls.
• Roll balls in flour. I stirred in 1 teaspoon of garlic powder into the flour. Heat cooking oil in deep fryer to 350 degrees. Fry 3-4 balls at a time in deep fryer until brown. Please be careful when cooking with hot oil.
• Once crawfish balls are brown, carefully remove them with a slotted spoon and place onto a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. Serve warm and enjoy!

CRAWFISH BALLS

Steps:

• Saute onions in butter until translucent & just beginning to brown. Add garlic and green onion and saute for a few more minutes, watching it carefully so the garlic doesn't burn.
• Add crawfish and stir. Remove from heat and add parsley and bread crumbs, mix to combine.
• Combine beaten egg and Worcestershire sauce in small bowl, then add to crawfish mixture. If the mixture is too wet, add a little more bread crumbs.
• Wetting your hands to keep the mixture from sticking to your hands too much, form golf ball sized balls.
• Roll balls in flour and then fry in hot oil until lightly browned.

CRAWFISH BISQUE BALLS

Steps:

• Bisque Balls: Using a meat grinder/food processor, grind, or chop, crawfish tails, onions, & celery.
• Mix in bread crumbs, eggs, salt, red pepper & parsley. Form into small balls (slightly smaller than a golf ball).
• Place on greased baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes at 350*.
• Gravy: Heat oil in large, heavy pot. Stir in flour. Continually stir until roux is a caramel color. Add onions & celery & saute' until veggies are tender.
• Add water, salt, red pepper, & tomato sauce. Let boil a few minutes.
• Add crawfish balls & remaining 1 lb crawfish tails. Simmer 20 minutes or more. Adjust seasoning if needed.
• If desired, add the chopped green onions & parsley just prior to serving.
• Serve over cooked rice.

CRAWFISH BISQUE (CRAWFISH BALLS INSTEAD OF HEADS)

Steps:

• NOTE: Drain all liquids from the 3 pounds of tails before grinding and reserve for later use. It is a good idea to use hands and squeeze the liquids from the tails. Grind all crawfish tails with food processor. Use 2 lbs of tails for the balls and the remaining 1 lb for the gravy.
• CRAWFISH BALLS: In a large bowl, add 2 lbs. of ground crawfish tails, onions, celery, parsley, shallots and bread crumbs and mix thoroughly. While mixing, season mixture with salt, black pepper, red pepper and garlic powder. Add 4 raw eggs to mixture and mix thoroughly. Form into 1" to 2" balls. After balls are made, deep fry the balls until they are golden brown. Set them aside to add to gravy later.
• GRAVY: In a medium-sized thick bottom stock pot, add cooking oil and flour and cook on medium to high heat stirring constantly until roux is golden brown. Add onions, celery, garlic and bell pepper and sauté until onions are clear. Add ground crawfish tails to mixture sauté for 8 to 10 minutes. Add crawfish liquids that were removed from tails prior to processing, chicken broth; bring to boil. Add shallots and parsley and cook on gently boil for 1 hour. Add fried crawfish balls to gravy and cook on medium to low heat for about another 30 minutes. Season to taste and add water as necessary (gravy should be a heavy and smooth consistency). Serve over white rice.