Crawfish Tomato étouffée In Puff Pastry Shells Recipes

Steps:

• Make puff pastry shells:
• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• On a lightly floured surface roll out 1 pastry sheet 1/8 inch thick (about 15 by 11 inches) and with a 4-inch round cutter cut out 6 rounds. Roll out second pastry sheet and cut out 6 more rounds in same manner. Roll out remaining pastry sheet and cut out 4 more rounds in same manner. (There will be a total of 16 rounds.) Transfer 8 rounds to a large baking sheet. With a 2 1/2-inch round cutter cut out and discard centers from remaining 8 rounds to make rings. Prick rounds on baking sheet with a fork and brush lightly with some egg wash, being careful not to let wash run over edges. Center pastry rings on rounds, pressing together lightly to adhere. Brush tops of rings lightly with some egg wash, being careful not to let wash run over edges.
• Bake pastry shells in middle of oven until golden, about 9 minutes, and transfer to a rack. With a paring knife carefully cut out and remove pastry centers to form cavities. Pastry shells may be made 2 days ahead and kept in airtight containers. Reheat pastry shells in middle of a 400°F. oven until warm before serving.
• Make etouffée:
• In a heavy skillet cook onion and bell pepper in butter, covered, over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned. Sprinkle flour over onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring, 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and reserved purée, water, and cayenne and simmer, stirring, until thickened slightly, about 1 minute. Stir in crawfish and heat mixture over moderate heat until just hot. Etouffße may be prepared up to this point 2 days ahead, cooled completely, uncovered, and chilled, covered. Reheat etouffée before proceeding. Stir in scallions and salt to taste.
• In a large bowl whisk together vinegar and salt and pepper to taste and whisk in oil in a stream until emulsified. Add mesclun and toss well.
• Spoon etouffée into warm pastry shells and arrange mesclun around shells.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut Puff Pastry sheets into 4 inch squares. Bake according to package directions. When baked, remove from oven and allow to cool. When cooled, slice off top to make a lid. Hollow out remainder of pastry and set aside. In a 12 inch skillet, heat oil over medium high heat and add flour. Stir constantly to make a roux. When the roux becomes reddish brown, add vegetables to stop cooking of roux, remove from heat. In separate 8 quart pot or heavy bottom sauce pan bring cream to a low simmer. Gradually add the roux mixture, whisking well with each addition and letting the mixture come to a simmer again before adding more roux. Add butter and seasonings, allow to simmer 5 minutes. Add green onion tops, allow to simmer two more minutes. Reserving 1/4 pound of crawfish add the remainder (1 3/4 pounds or more) to the cream mixture, turn off heat and cover, let sit 5 minutes. In a six inch sauté pan, heat reserved crawfish tails in 1 teaspoon of butter, under just hot. Return cream mixture to heat and bring to a very low simmer, stirring constantly. To serve, place crust in a pasta bowl. Ladle in mixture. Ladle more mixture around the crust. Place lid askew on crust, garnish with additional crawfish tails and green onions and serve immediately. Serves eight. NOTE: If puff pastry sheets are 3/8 of an inch or thicker, one layer will do. If thinner, stack squares on top of each other to reach 3/8 of an inch.

Steps:

• In an 8 quart stock pot over medium heat, add vegetable oil and margarine. Saute onions, green pepper and garlic until onions are translucent.
• Add crawfish to the onion mixture, and cook for 5 minutes. Add a little water to keep crawfish moist while cooking.
• Stir in soup and diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Sprinkle in parsley after about 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste while simmering. Water can be added to thin as desired.

Steps:

• Melt butter in a large skillet on medium heat, then stir in flour; cook until light brown, about 10 minutes. Add sweet onion, green pepper, celery, and green onions. Cover and simmer on low heat for about one hour, stirring occasionally.
• Stir in vegetable broth and tomato paste, and cook until it reaches a creamy consistency. Mix in crawfish tails, garlic, and parsley, then cook for about 15 minutes or until the tails are tender. Stir in salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and hot sauce.
• Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake the puff pastry shells for 5 to 7 minutes, or until they puff up and start to brown a little. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Pull off center tops and save. Turn oven down to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Spoon mixture into puff pastry shells until slightly overfilled. Put extra filling into a pie dish and cover with the remaining puff pastry shell center tops to create 6 small pies and 1 large crawfish pie. Place pies on a baking sheet.
• Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the shells are golden brown and the filling has a nice shine to it.