Crawfish Bisque White House Food

LOUISIANA CRAWFISH BISQUE

Steps:

• Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir chopped onion and green onion in melted butter until softened, about 5 minutes. Add crawfish tails, potato soup, mushroom soup, yellow corn, white corn, and cream cheese; cook and stir until cheese melts completely into mixture. Pour half-and-half into the pot; stir. Season with Creole seasoning, salt, and black pepper. Cook until hot, about 15 minutes.

CRAWFISH BISQUE

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot set over high heat. Crush the crawfish shells and add to the pot, cook for 15 minutes while stirring frequently.
• Add the flour to the pan and stir, then add the garlic, onions, lemongrass, celery, fennel and ginger. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes.
• Add the rice, tomato paste, red pepper flakes, bay leaf and thyme. Stir and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the brandy and cook for several minutes while stirring. Add the stock and the cream, and stir. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to a slow simmer. Simmer for 25 minutes and then remove from the heat.
• Puree in a blender and strain through fine mesh strainer. Fold the crawfish tails into the bisque and add the lime zest, some salt and pepper and hot sauce. Serve hot.

L.AFAYETTE AIRPORT FIRE DEPARTMENT CRAWFISH BISQUE

Steps:

• Soak the live crawfish in cold water for at least 10 minutes, and then thoroughly wash them, a small batch at a time, in a colander set under cold running water.
• Combine the water, the 2 cups of coarsely chopped onions, 3 of the parsley sprigs, the bay leaf, thyme and peppercorns in a heavy 8-to 10-quart pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Using tongs drop in the crawfish and boil them briskly, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
• With the tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer the crawfish to paper towels to drain. Then boil the liquid remaining in the pot over high heat until it is reduced to about 2 quarts. Strain the stock through a fine sieve lined with a double layer of dampened cheesecloth and set over a saucepan. Reserve 6 cups of the stock, and discard the vegetables and seasonings.
• When the crawfish are cool enough to handle, shell them one at a time in the following manner: With your hands, break off the ridged tail, snap it in half lengthwise and lift out the meat in one piece. Set the meat aside, but discard the tail shell. Some or all of the yellow fat, or "butter" from the body of the crawfish may slide out when you break off the tail. If it does, reserve it.
• Snap off the large claws and the smaller legs of the crawfish and-if you like-break the claws with a nutcracker and pick out the bits of meat. Discard the claw shells and legs. Cut off the top of the head just behind the eyes and discard. Then scoop the body shell clean with the tip of a finger or thumb and pick out any fat. Set this shell and all the fat aside, and discard the intestinal matter.
• Put all of the crawfish meat and fat through the finest blade of a food grinder, or chop it as fine as possible. There should be about 3 cups of the ground meat. Reserve the meat and 48 of the crawfish body shells, which in Louisiana are referred to as crawfish "heads".
• To prepare the bisque, bring the reserved 6 cups of crawfish stock to a boil over high heat. Remove the pan from the heat and cover tightly to keep the stock hot.
• In a heavy 6- to 8-quart casserole, warm the brown roux over low heat for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring it all the while. Add 2 cups of the finely chopped onions, the celery and 2 tablespoons of the garlic. Stirring frequently, cook over moderate heat for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft but not brown.
• Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, the 3 remaining parsley sprigs and 2 teaspoons of the salt. Stirring constantly, pour in the hot stock in a slow, thin stream and bring to a simmer over moderate heat. Immediately reduce the heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes.
• Strain the entire contents of the casserole through a fine sieve set over a deep pot, pressing down hard on. the vegetables and seasonings with the back of a large spoon to extract all their juices before discarding the pulp. Then return the crawfish bisque to the casserole.
• Meanwhile, prepare the stuffed crawfish "heads" in the following manner: In a heavy l2-inch skillet, melt 6 tablespoons of the butter over moderate heat. When the foam begins to subside, add the bread crumbs and, stirring frequently, fry them until they are crisp and golden brown. With a rubber spatula, scrape the crumbs into a deep bowl and set them aside.
• Add the remaining 8 tablespoons of butter to the skillet and melt over moderate heat. Drop in the remaining cup of finely chopped onions, the scallions and the remaining 2 teaspoons of garlic and, stirring frequently, cook for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft but not brown.
• Scrape the contents of the skillet into the bowl of toasted bread crumbs. Add 2 cups of ground crawfish meat, the ¼ cup of chopped parsley, ½ teaspoon of the red pepper and the remaining teaspoon of salt, and mix the stuffing ingredients together gently but thoroughly.
• For each stuffed crawfish head, scoop up about 1 tablespoonful of the stuffing and pack it tightly into one of the reserved shells. Immerse each head in the beaten eggs and turn it about in the flour to coat it evenly. As you proceed, set the stuffed heads aside on a platter or wax paper.
• Preheat the oven to its lowest setting, then line a large shallow baking dish with a double thickness of paper towels and set it on the middle shelf of the oven.
• Pour vegetable oil into a deep fryer or large heavy saucepan to a depth of 2 to 3 inches and heat the oil until it reaches a temperature of 350° on a deep-frying thermometer.
• Deep-fry the coated stuffed crawfish heads, seven or eight at a time, turning them about with a slotted spoon until they are golden brown on all sides. As they are fried, transfer them to the paper-lined dish and keep them warm in the oven until you are ready to serve them.
• Shortly before you plan to serve the bisque, bring it to a simmer over moderate heat. Stir in the remaining cup of ground crawfish meat and 1 teaspoon of red pepper and simmer, partially covered, for about 15 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Ladle the bisque into a large heated tureen or individual soup plates and, just before serving, drop in the crawfish heads.

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.

CRAWFISH BISQUE

Steps:

• Heat soup pot at medium heat. Finely chop bacon, onions, garlic, celery hearts then throw in heated pot. Sauté until bacon browns and onions become transparent. Cut butter and melt. Sprinkle in flour and whisk to make paste add more if needed. Cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add wine and stir to get out lumps.
• Add crawfish cook for 5 minutes Add bay leaves stirring 1 minute Add stock stirring slowly, add mashed potatoes and seasoning. Stir well to incorporate pots. Simmer 30 minutes Add cream and simmer 5 minutes.
• Serve with a crusty bread.
• This works just as well with lobster.

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

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large, heavy pan.
• Add the flour and cook, stirring, to make medium brown roux (the color of peanut butter).
• Add the onion, garlic, celery and the white parts of the scallions and cook until softened, stirring occasionally.
• Gradually stir in the water, then add the tomato paste, thyme, bay leaf, 4 Tbsp of the parsley, allspice berries, cloves, salt, peppers, cayenne to taste and the lemon juice.
• Bring to a boil, stirring well.
• Chop about one-quarter of the crawfish tails and add with the fat, if available.
• Cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
• Add the remaining whole crawfish tails and simmer, covered for 15 minutes or longer.
• Stir in the green parts of the scallions and the remaining parsley.
• Serve hot over rice.
• NOTE*** If available, add 12 or more stuffed crawfish heads (thawed if frozen) 5 minutes before serving.

CRAWFISH BISQUE: WHITE HOUSE

Steps:

• Bring 2 quarts water to a boil, add crawfish, and 2 teaspoons salt. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain and save stock. Pull out middle tail fin and with it the intestinal vein of each crawfish. Pick fat and meat from tails and heads and save it. Keep head shells for stuffing. Return tail shells to stock, and add 1/2 cup celery and 1/4 cup parsley. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain. Chop crawfish meat and add half of it to this bisque. Remove from heat and cover to keep hot. Meanwhile sauté onion and remaining 1/2 cup celery and crawfish fat and butter in a heavy pot for 10 minutes. Combine drained soaked buns, crumbled bread, and eggs and stir into onion mixture. Add remaining chopped crawfish meat, remaining 1/4 cup parsley, scallion tops, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, a few grains of cayenne pepper, and black pepper. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Stuff crawfish heads with this mixture. To serve, put 5 stuffed crawfish heads and a few spoonfuls of rice in each soup bowl. Pour bisque over each serving. Author's note: A little secret-boil rice in fish broth or even chicken broth in place of water.