Crawfish Bisque II

Our Crawfish Bisque II recipe takes us on a slightly different path but gets similar results in taste and texture as our Crawfish Bisque I presentation, and it also reduces the number of servings by half.

Since many folks don't have easy access to live crawfish as called for in the first recipe, it is assumed you can get fresh tail meat from your supermarket. This means you don't have the task of processing the live crawfish yourself. That's a good thing.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. crawfish tails
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 3 cups cold water
• 2 cups cold water and 1/2 cup crawfish fat, stirred
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, mashed
• 1 Tbs. green onions, chopped
• 1 stalk of celery, chopped
• 1 Tbs. chopped parsley
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. in a large cast iron (or other heavy skillet) mix the oil and flour together and prepare a golden brown roux (see How to Make a Gumbo Roux for further instructions)
2. in the hot roux, stir-in the chopped onions, celery and garlic
3. cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, or until the vegetables become translucent
4. add 2 cups of water, chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper
5. while stirring, bring sauce to a slow boil over medium-high heat
6. reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally
7. in a large sauce pan combine remaining water with crawfish tail meat
8. cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly until it comes to a boil
9. add sauce to fat and water, reduce heat and let simmer 1 hour
10. test the seasoning and adjust accordingly
11. stir-in cooked crawfish tails, green onions and parsley
12. serve in soup bowls over cooked long grain rice

This recipe will make 4 servings.

Note: I would recommend getting U.S.A. raised crawfish if you can. If it's possible buy fresh crawfish tail meat with the fat because it will produce a much tastier meal.

On the other hand, if you are stuck with only the imported kind, it will not come with fat because of USDA restrictions on imported crawfish. In the absence of crawfish fat it is okay to use unsalted butter.

Bon appetite!
NT