Crawfish Pot Pies

The Recipe

2 cups chopped onion
1 1/2 cup chopped celery
½ chopped green pepper
½ chopped red pepper
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup oil, + 1 Tbsp.
18oz beer- suggested Abita Bock
8oz crawfish stock
2 lb. crawfish tail meat
2 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. cayenne if desired
1 tsp tobasco
½ tsp. black pepper- or to taste
½ cup chopped scallions, green parts
1 Tbsp. chopped parsley
Fresh parsley for garnish, and chopped scallion tops

2 sheets Puff pastry, cut into rounds to fit 10 6oz ramekins
Egg wash (1 whole egg beaten with 1 T. water)

Saute onion, celery, green & red peppers, and garlic in 1 Tbsp. oil until tender. Make a roux with oil and flour; cook to medium dark, stirring constantly over med-low heat, takes about 20 minutes. Add vegetables and half of liquids to roux, stirring constantly. Bring to a simmer and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining liquid and cover; simmer 10 minutes, stir occasionally. Add crawfish, S&P, tobasco, cayenne, scallions and parsley. Check for seasonings.

Ladle evenly into individual serving ramekins. Cover with rounds of puff pastry. Cut decorative slits into center, add pretty cutouts made from the scraps if desired, and brush with egg wash. Bake at 375 until golden, 30-40 min. Serve each ramekin on a plate; Scatter parsley and green onions on plates for garnish.

Serves 10

The Story

I made up a whole menu in cooking school of New Orleans-themed dishes; this is the first course of that menu.

Whaddya mean, you don't just have crawfish stock hanging around? :) If you have to buy whole crawfish, the 3 lb. bag, save the shells after you pull the tail meat. Simmer the shells for 20-30 min. in water to cover, then strain. Or, skip it and use chicken stock, it'll be just fine.

I took this to a Mardi Gras party once, so I made it in one large dish instead of individual ramekins. It didn't work well at all, because the puff pastry shrank terribly and was hard to serve. If you want to make it as a main course, change the puff to a biscuit crust- maybe a cornmeal biscuit, yum- and eliminate the egg wash. Change the baking time as needed.