Blackened crawfish, spinach and andouille cream

Blackened crawfish on spinach and mashed sweet potatoes and andouille cream….to me just..the flavor of crawfish, the spinach contrasted with the sweet potatoes and a nice andouille cream…mmm makes me drool, so here’s how I do it.
1 pound sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon oil
1 andouille sausage, diced
2 tablespoons onion, diced
2 tablespoons celery, diced
2 tablespoons bell pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon thyme, chopped
1/4 cup white wine or broth
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon creole seasoning
1 tablespoon butter
1 pound crawfish
1 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons creole seasoning
1 tablespoon butter
1 bunch spinach, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons parsley

Now I’m not sure about everyone else. I love my potatoes baked rather then boiled.  So to begin we must bake the sweet potatoes in a preheated 400F oven for an hour. They should be fork tender. Then we scoop out them yummy insides and mash with butter and cinnamon and then set it aside. About half way through cooking the potato we need to get the oil in a pan over medium high heat going, and then saute the sausage for 3 minutes, the onion, celery, pepper, for 2 minutes, and the garlic and thyme for half a minute. Then pour wine into the pan…this deglazes the pan. Then we add the cream and creole seaoning and simmer this for about 5 minutes it’ll reduce in half. Then we add in more butter and remove from heat. Then we toss crawfish tails in oil and creole seasoning till well coated. Then melt more butter in another pan over medium high heat, and then saute the crawfish for 1-3 minutes and then set aside.  Then we must blanch the spinach. To do this, bring a pot of water to a boil, then drop the spinach into the pot once it’s boiling for 2-3 minutes, then drain them and run ice cold water over them. This way you get the nice green color still in it. Then divide sweet potatoes amongst 4 plates, add spinach, then the crawfish, drizzle with the andouille cream, and sprinkle on some fresh parsley…mmmm starving now.

how to have a ragin crawfish boil my way

First crawfish are little fresh water lobsters. Peak crawfish season is from February to June. I catch my own and bought my traps from a man named Terry Bullard. His traps are honestly the best. I’ve had lots and lots of sucess with his traps. Very helpful fellow. So I’m going to toss out a boil the way I do it, in his honor.

160 lbs crawfish
80 lbs potatoes
80 ears of Corn
8 whole garlic bulbs
24 lemons, halved
2 cup Sriracha
8 cups of boil seasoning (recipe follows)
40 pounds tasso (a southern pork sausage that I make)
40 pounds andouille (another type of sausage that I make)

1. Using a 40-gallon pot, fill with water 3/4 full, add boil seasoning and bring to boil.
2. Add potatoes, of corn, garlic, half of the lemons lemons and Sriracha sauce.
3. Cook 1 minute per pound of potatoes. Control heat to prevent boil over.
4. Add  crawfish and boil for another 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat.
5. Let crawfish soak, covered, for 15-20 minutes. Check to make sure they are all cooked. (red like lobsters)
6. At this point, if you are using a basket, remove the basket and let the liquid drain off, back into the boil pot.
7. Dump the contents of the basket onto the serving table and sprinkle with  Cajun seasoning (recipe follows).
8. Repeat the process, starting with adding potatoes and corn. Each batch will get progressively spicier, so be careful.

boil seasoning

• 2 cup mustard seeds
• 24 tablespoons coriander seeds
• 16 tablespoons whole allspice
• 16 tablespoons dill seeds
• 8 teaspoon whole cloves
• 48 small dried red chilies crumbled, or 8 tablespoon crushed red pepper
• 64 bay leaves

Mix and throw in a boil….this will fit this recipe.

Cajun seasoning

• 3/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cayenne
• 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

This you just mix and toss over the table full of goodies.

This should feet about 160 people….unless they are extremely hungry!