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Crawfish bisque--one of the greatest dishes in all of Cajun cooking--is not like any other bisque. It's not creamy or thickened with rice, as in the classic French style, but made with a dark roux. Most of the ingredients, even the crawfish, are made into a rough puree, which further thickens the soup. This may seem like a long, involved recipe, but there are no great challenges in it. What comes out is something unforgettable. Serve it with the crawfish boulettes in the next recipe.
- 5 lbs. boiled crawfish
- 1/2 medium onion, cut up
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 rib celery, cut up chopped
- 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/2 cup brandy
- 1 small lemon, sliced
- 2/3 cup flour
- 5 sprigs Italian parsley leaves, chopped
- 2 green onions, sliced finely
- Salt
- Tabasco
1. Rinse the boiled crawfish with lukewarm water to remove some of the salt, which will otherwise get concentrated later. Peel all of the crawfish and reserve the tail meat and the shells separately. Get some kid to pull off all the claws from the shells. Put all the claws into a heavy plastic bag. Using a meat mallet, bash the claws enough to break most of them.
2. In an eight-quart (or larger) saucepan, sauté the onions, garlic, celery, and bell pepper over medium heat until the vegetables are browned at the edges.
3. Add the crawfish claws, shells and wine, and bring to a boil. When most of the liquid has evaporated, pour the brandy over the shells. If you are comfortable with flaming dishes and have a fire extinguisher nearby, carefully touch a flame to the brandy. Let the flames die out. Otherwise, just let the brandy boil away.
4. Add the lemon and enough water to cover all the shells. Bring it to a boil, then lower to the lowest possible simmer. Simmer for thirty minutes, spooning out the scum from the top of the pot every now and then.
5. Strain the stock into another saucepan and discard the solids. Simmer until reduced to about three quarts. Strain through a fine sieve. (At this point, the stock can be refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for later use.)
6. In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, make a dark roux with the flour and butter, stirring constantly to avoid burning. When the roux is the color of chocolate, stir it into the crawfish stock with a wire whisk until completely blended.
7. Add parsley and green onions. Reserve six large crawfish tails per person. In a food processor, chop the rest of the crawfish tail meat to a near-puree. Add this to the soup and return to a simmer for five minutes. Add salt and hot sauce to taste.
6. Place the whole crawfish tails in soup plates, and ladle the bisque over them. Add crawfish boulettes (optional) to the bisque at the table.
Serves six to eight.
Crawfish bisque is traditionally served with stuffed heads, but I find both the stuffing (while making) and the unstuffing (while eating) of the heads to be messy and inconvenient. Instead, I make small boulettes with all the same ingredients except the head shells. These also make great appetizers served with hollandaise, remoulade, or tartar sauce.
- 1 cup crawfish tail meat
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 Tbs. olive oil
- 2 Tbs. chopped celery
- 1 Tbs. chopped Italian parsley
- 1 Tbs. chopped red bell pepper
- 2 Tbs. green onion tops, sliced thin
- 3/4 cup crawfish or shrimp stock
- 1 cup crustless stale bread cubes
- 1 cup flour
- 1 Tbs. salt
- 1 Tbs. salt-free Creole seasoning
- Vegetable oil for frying
1. Chop the crawfish tails into rice-size bits in a food processor. Add the egg yolk and process to blend.
2. In a skillet, heat the olive oil and sauté the celery, parsley, bell pepper, and green onions until tender. Add the crawfish-egg mixture and warm through.
3. Add the crawfish stock and bring to a simmer. Add bread cubes a little at a time and allow to absorb the liquid in the pan. The mixture should be damp but not so wet that it doesn't hold together; you may not need all the bread crumbs.
4. Mix the flour, salt, and Creole seasoning with a fork in a wide bowl.
5. With a round soup spoon, make balls about an inch and a half in diameter with the crawfish mixture. Roll them in the seasoned flour and shake off the excess. Fry them in vegetable oil at 375 degrees until golden brown.
If you're serving this in crawfish bisque, drop one or two boulettes into each serving of bisque at the table, or serve on the side.
Makes eight to ten boulettes.