Whole Blue Crabs New Orleans Style Food

NEW ORLEANS (NAWLINS) STYLE CRAB BISQUE

Steps:

• Cook bacon is a large frying pan with a little oil on low to get the grease out of the bacon.
• Chop pepper, tomato, onion, celery and carrots, then add to the bacon in the frying pan. Let simmer for about 15-20 minutes on medium low heat.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• In a large glass bowl add cream (you can add more or less if you like your bisque thicker or thinner then the recipe calls for), add crab meat, and corn(still frozen).
• Put a strainer over top of a small bowl. Take your frying pan with the vegetables and bacon and strain the grease from them into the bowl. Add 3 heaping tablespoons of corn starch to the grease and stir. After blended well add 1 tablespoon of zatarains crab boil to the grease/cornstarch mixture. (you can add more crab boil if you like yours spicier). Stir the crab boil into the mixture.
• Add grease/cornstarch/crab boil mixture to the bowl with the crab, cream, and corn. Stir well.
• Cover the bowl with foil and bake on 325 degrees for 45 minutes. Stir the mixture every 15 minutes, and remove the foil during the last 10 minutes of cooking.
• Optional garnish: sprinkle with pepper and add a little parsley.

BLUE CRAB BISQUE

Steps:

• Crabs: Preheat oven to 425 F. Place crabs on a roasting pan and bake in the oven about 30 minutes, until deep red and slightly browned. In a stockpot set over medium heat, add olive oil and roasted crabs, breaking them up with a wooden spoon as they cook, 5 minutes. Add onion, bell pepper, and celery (the "holy trinity" of Cajun cooking) and stir, cooking just till the vegetables soften, 5 minutes.
• Stock: Add wine and stir to deglaze the pan. Turn heat to high and cook 6-8 minutes, until the wine has nearly evaporated. Add tomato paste and water. Stir, bring to a boil, then reduce to low heat. Cover and simmer, 45 minutes.
• Bisque: Remove the crab shells from the stock and discard. (If you miss a couple small pieces of shell, don't worry: they'll get strained out later.) Ladle the stock into the blender, then add the juice of half a lemon and ¾ cup bread cubes. Season with a big pinch of salt and a small pinch of pepper. Cover and let sit so the bread can absorb some of the liquid, 30-60 seconds. Blend on low speed (to avoid splattering hot liquid) for 30 seconds. As the soup blends, turn to high to emulsify, 1 more minute. Taste to adjust for seasoning and texture-the soup should coat the back of a spoon. Add remaining bread, small pinches of salt and pepper, and blend on high to further thicken and emulsify, 1½ more minutes. Taste again for seasoning, then strain through a chinois to remove any small shell pieces, using the back of a ladle to push the soup through into a bowl.
• Assembly: Ladle bisque into individual serving bowls. Chop chives into ½-inch lengths (you should have about a ½ cup total). Garnish each bowl with crab meat and chives. Serve immediately.

STUFFED CRABS (NEW ORLEANS)

Steps:

• Soak buns in milk and egg mixture.
• Saute celery, onions (not green), garlic and bell pepper in a heavy pot in the butter until wilted.
• Add worcestershire sauce, crabmeat and season to taste with salt, pepper and cayenne.
• Cook over medium heat about 15 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Add green onions.
• Then add buns.
• Mix well.
• Stuff crab shells (artificial).
• Sprinkle tops with bread crumbs and bake at 375 for 10 minutes or until brown.