Crawfish on the rocks

6 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
¼ cup Peanut oil
¼ pounds Butter
2 cups Onions, finely chopped
¾ cup Celery, finely chopped
½ cup Bell pepper, finely chopped
½ cup Fresh parsley, chopped
4 Garlic cloves, finely minced
¼ cup Green onions, finely sliced
3 cups Evaporated milk
½ cup Madeira wine
1 cup Campbell's chicken broth
1 pounds Cream cheese, chunked
3 pounds Crawfish tails and fat
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Black pepper
½ teaspoon Granulated garlic
½ teaspoon Cayenne pepper
2 cans Crescent dinner rolls

Directions

First, put the peanut oil and the butter in a heavy 12-inch skillet and melt it down over medium heat until it just begins to foam. Then stir in the onions, celery, bell pepper, parsley, garlic, and green onions and cook them for about 12 to 15 minutes until they soften completely. While the chopped vegetables are simmering, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

When the vegetables are ready, pour in the evaporated milk, Madeira wine, and chicken broth, mix them together thoroughly, and bring the mixture to a slow boil. Then drop in the cream cheese chunks and, with the heat still set at medium, stir until the cheese melts and the sauce turns smooth and silky. For the most part, this should take you about 5 minutes.

At this point, fold the crawfish tails into the hot sauce in the skillet, stir everything together thoroughly, and cook the mixture for 3 minutes.

When uniformly blended, sprinkle on and stir in the salt, black pepper, granulated garlic, and cayenne. Then take the pan off the fire and allow the mixture to cool slightly.

Actually, if you want to develop the maximum flavor in the seafood mix, I recommend that you make the dish one day, cover it and place it in the refrigerator overnight, and reheat it the next day just before you serve it. Just be careful not to recook - you don't want the crawfish tails to turn into rubber bands! Truthfully, though, this is so good that'll probably never happen.

Then 14 minutes before you're ready to eat, unroll the dinner rolls into triangles. And with a chef's knife, cut out ½ inch squares. Then bake the squares for about 12 to 14 minutes in the oven. These are your "rocks" and you want them to puff and turn a rich, toasty-brown color.

When you're ready to eat, drop the "rocks" into a soupbowl, generously ladle the crawfish over the top, and serve piping hot alongside a cold salad made with sliced tomatoes, advocado chunks, chopped onions, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, and a dressing made from the artichoke marinade.

This dish can be served family style as an everday meal or as the entree for the most elegant, sophisticated dinner party.

Chef's Note: 1-If you want to make the mixture kinda spicy, instead of using just the cream cheese and the cayenne, you can drop in a couple of tablespoons of jalapeno peppers. 2-If you want to enhance the overall seafood flavor in the crawfish, instead of using salt, black pepper, cayenne, and granulated garlic, substitute 2 teaspoons of my Frank Davis Seafood Seasoning. If it is not available where you shop, you can order it by direct mail by calling 1-800-742-4231. 3-If the end product thickens too much to spoon over the puff pastry, simply add a little more chicken stock and Madeira wine mixed half and half. Ideally, you want it the consistency of a medium stew! 4-Finally, experiment with different mixtures. In addition to crawfish tails, make the basic sauce and substitute shrimp, crabmeat, broiled oysters, Italian sausage and mozzarella, smoked turkey, chopped chicken or ham and bacon. The variations you can come up with are endless.

From: Frank Davis Cooks Cajun, Creole, and Crescent City By: Frank Davis ISBN: 1-56554-055-7

Posted to MM-Recipes Digest V4 #245 by "Billy Reeves" <breeves@...> on Sep 15, 1997

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