Crawfish Pirogue Food

CRAWFISH PIROGUE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Toss crawfish tails with Creole seasoning in a bowl.
• Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and green bell pepper; cook and stir until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic. Thin mixture with 1 cup water. Stir in crawfish tails; season with black pepper.
• Whisk cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl until smooth. Pour into the saucepan, stirring constantly, until crawfish mixture thickens, about 5 minutes.
• Cut tops off bread loaves; hollow out center to create a "boat." Place bread loaves on a baking sheet; spoon crawfish mixture into the center.
• Bake in the preheated oven until bread is warm and lightly toasted, about 10 minutes.

CAJUN CRAWFISH-STUFFED FRENCH BREAD

Steps:

• Melt butter in medium saucepan on medium high heat. Add onions, bell pepper, and celery and saute' for 5 minutes.
• Add cayenne pepper, black pepper, paprika, and garlic and stir well. Stir in white wine and seafood stock, bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low.
• Add crawfish tails and salt and mix well. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. If using shrimp, don't add until the last 5 minutes of the 20.
• Gradually add cream cheese until melted, stirring often and cook for 5 minutes.
• Add green onions and parsley and a little more white wine if mixture is too thick.
• Cut bread in half and scoop out center portion of French bread loaf. Fill bottom portion with crawfish mixture. Place top half on top, brush with melted butter and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

CRAWFISH AU GRATIN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a heavy-bottomed 2-quart sauce pan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onions, celery, red and yellow bell peppers and garlic.
• Sauté 3 to 5 minutes or until vegetables are wilted.
• Be careful not to brown vegetables.
• Add 1/2 pound crawfish tails and saute 3 additional minutes. Sprinkle in flour, blending well into the mixture.
• Using a wire whip, whisk cream into sauce pan stirring constantly until thick cream sauce is achieved.
• Reduce heat to simmer, add white wine, lemon juice and hot sauce. Sprinkle in half of the cheddar cheese stirring the mixture constantly. Season to taste using salt and pepper.
• Add green onions and parsley for color. If mixture becomes too thick, add a small amount of hot water or whipping cream.
• Place equal parts of remaining crawfish tails in the bottom of six au gratin dishes, top with sauce and sprinkle with remaining cheddar cheese.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.