Crawfish Etouffee

I’m so proud to present this recipe; this is seriously good and better than the restaurant that I went to in New Orleans. Taste is fresh and clean.  It wasn’t hard to prepare, but it takes a little time to make and totally worth it!!! 

I changed his recipe a little bit because I’m not a fan of Old bay seasoning. I used Louisiana crawfish boil seasoning mixed with Slap ya mama cajun seasoning and I didn’t measure exactly what he called for in the recipe; I just added a little bit at a time and tasted it.  I added sugar to cut down the strong spicy flavor from Cajun seasoning and that gave it a milder taste.

Ingredients: (2-3 servings)

• 1 pound crawfish tails - or peeled shrimp. Other versions include: Crab, Scallop, Sausage or Chicken. Or combine a couple of them.
• 1 ¼ stick of butter, divided
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 stacks of celery, diced
• 1 bell pepper (any color), diced
• 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 3 green onions, sliced. (use white and light green parts)
• 1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped
• 3 bottles of Clam juice (8 oz) – Reserved ½ cup of clam juice to mix with cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons of cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon of Louisiana crawfish boil seasoning - optional ( I mixed with Slap ya mama Cajun seasoning)
• 2 whole bay leaves
• Louisiana hot sauce, salt, sugar and black pepper to taste - optional
• Steamed white rice, for serving

 

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, melt 1 stick of butter and sauté onions, garlic, celery, bell pepper and tomatoes for 10-12 minutes or until they are cooked down.

 

  2.    Add 2 ½ cup clam juice, crawfish and 2 bay leaves to cooked veggies.  Seasoning with hot sauce, salt, sugar and black pepper, reduce heat to a low simmer uncovered for 20- 30 minutes.

3.  Add sliced green onion and chopped parsley into the pot of veggies and crawfish.  In a small bowl mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch and ½ cup clam juice mix well; add into the pot of veggies and crawfish, stir constantly until blend well.  Let is cook for about five more minutes over low heat.
 

 
4.  Just before serving, add ¼ stick of butter to sauce and stir until melted.  Also, discard bay leaves.

5. Sever over white rice.

 

 

Thank you Chef Tony Matassa for awesome recipe!!   Here is his link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnG_6M1EbVE&feature=player_embedded#! and here is his blog 

http://the99centchef.blogspot.com/2011/08/crawfish-etouffee-recipe-cajun-cuisine.html

 

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

This recipe turned out really good and I made it twice!  The second time I used 2% milk instead of half and half and it worked well too.  I think this recipe didn’t call for enough butter to make roux but no problem.  I didn’t feel like adding more butter because it adds more fat too!

Ingredients:

2 packages (6 oz.) long grain and wild rice

10 cups chicken broth, divided

3 tablespoons butter (I used half of butter and olive oil)

8 oz sliced mushroom

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup celery

1/4 cup butter (for roux)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup half and half

2 tablespoons dry white wine

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups cook shredded chicken breasts

Garnished: Fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Bring rice, 4 cups chicken broth and 1 seasoning pack from rice mix to a boil on over medium high heat.  Cover, reduce heat to low for 20 minutes or liquid is absorbed and rice is tender (reserve remaining seasoning in package). Set aside.

2.  Melt 3 tablespoon butter, add mushroom, onion, celery and cook until tender; set aside.

3.  To make a roux, melt ¼ cup butter over medium heat and whisk in flour; wishing constantly 1 minute or until flour cooked and brown.  Add remaining chicken broth (6 cups) and cook stirring often 8 -10 minutes or slightly thicken.  Wish in half and half, white wine and black pepper.  Add cooked vegetables chicken, rice and cook, stirring 5-10 minutes until thoroughly heat.

Potato Soup (Like O’Charley)

(I make 1/2 of recipe)

Ingredients:
3 pounds red potatoes
¼ cup butter, softened
¼ cup flour
8 cups half-and-half
16 ounces Velveeta cheese
Garlic powder and white pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

½ pound bacon, fried crisply
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
½ cup fresh chives, chopped


Directions:
1. Dice unpeeled red potatoes into ½-inch cubes. Place in a large saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Let boil for 10 minutes or until ¾ cooked. Drain potatoes and set aside.


2. In a small bowl mix butter and flour together. In a large saucepan, melt butter mixture to make a roux, stir until brown and smooth. Place over low heat and gradually add half-and-haft, stirring constantly. Continue to stir until smooth and liquid begins to thicken.


3. Meanwhile cut Velveeta cheese in to small dices and put in a bowl. Add about ¼ cup of half-and-half into the cheese. Microwave about 1 minute 30 seconds or until cheese melted, stir until smooth.

4. Add melted Velveeta. Stir well. Add potatoes to the cream mixture. Stir in pepper, garlic powder and hot pepper sauce. Cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Place soup into individual serving bowls and top with crumbled bacon, shredded cheese, chives and parsley.

Tom Kha Gai (Thai Chicken Coconut Soup)

This recipe is a request from Mrs.Tina. I’m sorry to post it late but I wanted to move my website. I hope you already get the package of instant soup. This soup is easy to make but it isn’t easy to find the ingredients in the winter

Ingredients:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size (You can substitute with shrimps, tofu, or pork)
6 mushrooms, sliced (You can substitute with cabbage)
1 cup chicken stock
1 can (14 ounce) coconut milk (Not coconut cream)
2 inch cube galangal, sliced thinly (You can buy from Oriental store at frozen food section)
3-4 fresh kaffir lime leaves, torn in half
2 stalks fresh lemongrass, sliced (In summer you can get it from me)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 whole fresh lime juice
½ teaspoon sugar (to cut down the flavor, normally they use MSG)
Fresh birdseye chili (Thai chili peppers), slices or crushed (optional)
Cilantro leaves to garnish

** Don’t’ worry if you add too much galangal, lime leaves, or lemongrass; they don’t have a lot of flavors, it is just for smell.**

Frozen galangal


You must have.

Sliced galangal and lemongrass. For the lime leaves you need to pull the middle stem from the leaves.

Direction:
1. Combine chicken stock, coconut milk, galangal, lemon grass, and lime leaves in a saucepan and heat to boiling.

Add the chicken, fish sauce, and sugar. Simmer about 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Add mushroom cook; until mushroom is tender.

2. Remove large saucepan from the heat. Squeeze lime juice into the soup. (Don’t add lime juice when the soup is cooking on the stove because it will taste bitter) Pour the soup into the serving bowl. Garnish with chopped cilantro and chili pepper. Serve!

Toscana soup

Make : 4 serving

Ingredients:
3 links spicy Italian sausage
6 slices bacon, diced
2 medium russet potatoes, cut in half length-wise, then cut in 1/4 inch slices
1 medium onion, diced
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 cups kale, cut in half, then sliced
2 tablespoons chicken base or 2 cube chicken bullion (I use pork flavor)
4 cups water
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream


Directions:
1. Remove sausage from casings; brown in a skillet, breaking up, until cooked through. Drain excess fat and set aside. In the same skillet, brown bacon; drain excess fat, set aside.

2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook onions until tender. Add garlic cook for a minute. Add water, chicken bullion and potatoes, simmer 15 minutes. Add sausage, bacon, kale and cream, simmer 4 minutes. Serve.

This recipe is from www.allrecipes.com

Spicy Chicken Soup

This soup is good for heart and healthy, and taste very good too.

Ingredients:
3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (16 ounce) jar chunky salsa
1 cup V8 vegetable juice
1 (12 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
2 (15 ounce) cans whole kernel corn, drained
1 (15 ounce) can chili beans, undrained
1/4 cup sour cream

Directions:
1. In a large pot over medium heat, combine chicken Broth , chicken, salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley and onion powder. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 1 hour, or until chicken juices run clear. Remove chicken, keep broth and cube chicken.

2. In a large pot over medium heat, cook onion and garlic in olive oil until slightly browned. Stir in salsa, diced tomatoes, vegetable juice, chili powder, corn, chili beans, sour cream, cubed chicken and broth. Simmer 30 minutes.

Serve with tortilla chips

Camp Stew

 

 

Ingredients:
2 (15 ounce) cans Cream Corn
2 (15 ounce) cans Lima Bean (drained)
2 (18 ounce) cans Diced Tomatoes (I used 28 oz. instead of 2 cans)
1 (10 ounce) can BBQ Chicken
1 (10 ounce) can BBQ Pork
1 (10 ounce) can BBQ Beef
1 Tablespoon Hot Sauce

**This year I cannot find the BBQ Chicken so I doubled the BBQ Pork . Or you can use leftover pulled pork BBQ.

Directions:
Put all ingredients in the slow cooker. Cook until hot.

Serve with toast frecnh bread.

This recipe is from Amy Coyle. Thank you for sharing your great recipe.