It seems to be accepted orthodoxy that Easter is the peak of crawfish season, but Easter moves around each year. And all things natural are subject to the vagaries of, well,...nature. So for the purposes of this piece, let’s say we are in the height of crawfish season, though the last ones I had were so large they could have passed for lobsters, and the pros have told me that’s a signal we are nearing the end. I did want to offer this recipe again before it’s too late, and I may make this an annual piece.
I do a lot of culinary winging it. Even if there is a recipe before me, I tweak it. During COVID I was buying a lot of crawfish mainly to get out of the house. After a particularly large batch and a spicy one from Johnny Sanchez, I created this tart, a smashing success that makes me proud. My expat nephew in DC has a crawfish boil each year for his birthday, and this recipe rated an A+ from him.
It’s not hard, and it is great. If I do say so myself.
TART FROM THE BOIL
To do this, you’ll need 4 lbs. crawfish with two potatoes and one corn (1/2 cob)
1 green bell pepper
1 stalk celery
1 small to medium yellow onion
1 cup chopped crimini or Baby Bella mushrooms (optional)
½ cup chopped parsley
1 pat of butter
½ cup of heavy whipping cream
4 oz cream cheese
While I crafted the filling, The oven was puffing up some pastry. I bought a package of puff pastry and separated each of the two dough sheets. One I laid down, and the other I cut into strips to frame the tart, creating an edge around the bottom sheet. Be as creative as you want with this extra pastry. Follow the package instructions for baking.
I peeled all the crawfish, taking special care to get all the fat from the heads. It is a messy task, and not for the faint of heart. I also chopped the 2 red potatoes, skin on, and sheared the half of a corn cob that came with the boil. But first I started with the holy trinity, using one stalk of celery and a smallish green bell pepper (I somehow associate a green bell pepper with crawfish dishes, though I use red for most everything else.) The onion I chopped was medium to small, and all of this was diced small.
The trinity went into a pan with a pat of butter, and it was sauteed until translucent. I added three chopped mushrooms, but there could certainly be more. While this was cooking I chopped the crawfish coarsely. When the mushrooms had cooked completely I stirred in the crawfish and parsley. The melting fat creates a sludge that keeps this moving, but when it starts to stick pour in a half cup of cream, deglazing the caramelized film in the pan.
To this add a half stick of cream cheese and continue to stir until everything is incorporated into everything else. If you have selected a properly seasoned boil of crawfish, there is no need to add anything else. Otherwise, season to taste.
When the shell is baked, let it cool a bit before moving the contents of the saucepan into the center of the pie shell. Remember when removing the empty shell from the oven that you will return it to the oven with the filling inside for another 10 minutes, so be careful to only bake until it’s puffed up because some more browning will occur in the second baking. And be careful not to underbake or it will be soggy.
Crawfish dishes are never pretty, but this was. And exceptionally tasty too. I can’t wait to make it again.
