Atchafalaya Crawboy
Reminiscent of a New England lobster roll, this recipe uses red swamp crawfish poached in butter, garlic and Meyer lemon. The flavorful tail-meat is then chilled and tossed with homemade mayonnaise, shaved celery, green bell pepper, scallions and Cajun spices. Served on a top-split, toasted roll with dandelion greens, crunchy sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper and Tabasco sauce..
Atchafalaya Crawboy
For the Crawfish
1/2 pound red swamp crawfish tail-meat, preferably fresh
3 tablespoons pastured butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
juice of 1/2 Meyer lemon
2 oz semi-dry white wine
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
Melt the butter in a non-reactive pan set over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add crawfish, lemon juice and wine and simmer slowly until crawfish is barely done. Remove from heat, stir in parsley and allow to cool. Use a slotted spoon to transfer mixture to a bowl and refrigerate at least 1 hour. The cooking liquid may be reserved for another recipe if desired.
For the Mayonnaise
8 oz olive oil
2 small pastured egg yolks
1 teaspoon fresh Meyer lemon juice
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning (paprika, cayenne, thyme, oregano, black pepper)
fine sea salt to taste
Whisk lemon juice, egg yolks and seasoning together in a bowl. Add the oil in a very thin stream, whisking continuously to form an emulsion. Season to taste with salt, and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
For the Crawfish Salad
1 cup crawfish from above
1/3 cup mayonnaise from above
1 1/2 tablespoons celery, thinly sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons scallions, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon green bell pepper, diced
salt and pepper
Combine all ingredients together in a bowl. Taste and adjust for seasoning if needed. Chill until ready to use.
To assemble
Top-split fresh sandwich rolls and toast under broiler until golden brown. Spread with a little butter, then loosely fill with blanched and shocked dandelion greens. Fill with chilled crawfish salad, then dress with Tabasco and lemon juice. Serve immediately.
Steve Maden said,
February 21, 2010 at 10:37 am
http://www.caviarcaviar.com http://www.caviarcaviar.com they are great!
Maxime said,
February 21, 2010 at 12:44 pm
I should know better then to look at your amazing pictures of delicious food when I am hungry.
Looks great!
Ren said,
February 21, 2010 at 6:51 pm
Thanks, Maxime!
Dink said,
February 21, 2010 at 4:03 pm
I’ve been waiting all week for a recipe. This was worth waiting for. Beautiful !!
Ren said,
February 21, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Thanks! I had been thinking about this one for days
Sustainable Eats said,
February 21, 2010 at 10:53 pm
Yum! I’ve been thinking about getting a fish tank and raising something in my garage. Maybe crawfish would work…
leih said,
February 22, 2010 at 7:14 am
You know, Ren, whatever your day job is, I think you may have missed your calling. You could write ad copy for any food venture and make them a mint! Just your descriptions get my salivary glands rocking…add the pictures, and my stomach starts gurgling. Read the recipes…I’m totally sunk. If you could send food thru the ethernet, you’d probably be a gazillion-bazillionaire.
blur said,
February 22, 2010 at 10:21 am
oh my! as usual that looks fantastic and again you bet I’m gonna try it.
Ren said,
February 23, 2010 at 7:36 pm
Thank you, sir!
Ed Schenk said,
February 23, 2010 at 5:17 pm
This does remind me of a lobster roll.beautiful Picture.
Save those heads! They make a real tasty stock.
Ren said,
February 23, 2010 at 7:35 pm
I keep a bag of crawfish & shrimp shells in the freezer for that very purpose. Makes for a great bisque!
Cage Free Family said,
February 23, 2010 at 6:34 pm
OooOoooh…. being on such a severly restricted diet, I want to cry when I see pictures like this. I miss onions, dairy, garlic, tomatoes, spices :*( waah!
Ren said,
February 23, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Oh, man, that’s tough! What can you have these days?
Cage Free Family said,
February 23, 2010 at 10:02 pm
heh.
ground turkey, chicken, peas, carrots, beets, chard, olive oil, rice, rice noodles, herbs, honey, ACV, grapes, oranges, oats, green beans, potatoes, rice crackers….
yeah, that’s pretty much it..
going to go weep now…
Ren said,
February 24, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Have you considered the paleolithic diet?