Crawfish Etouffee

This is one of my favorite Louisiana foods and it is so easy to make.  

1 lb. crawfish peeled and deveined (get them pre-prepared at your seafood market)

1 onion (medium)

1 bell pepper (medium)

2 stalks of celery

1 stick real butter

4 tbs. of flour

two cans or one box of chicken stock

water as needed to thin

creole seasoning

pepper and salt to taste

Melt butter in a heavy bottomed 6 quart sauce pan.  Add chopped vegetables and sautee until soft - about 8 - 10 minutes on medium heat.

Add crawfish tails with all the fat and juice.  Cook until the tails feel a little firmer.  Add flour and stir.  Let flour mixture cook for a few minutes to get the raw flour flavor out

Add chicken stock. Stir vigorously to get the roux to break up.  Bring to a boil and then simmer.  Add seasonings as desired.  For additional flavor you can use a tablespoon of chicken base or chicken bullion  cubes (3 - 4) instead of salt.  

Serve over rice or put it in a pie shell with rice to make a crawfish pie!

Ron’s Perfect Biscuits

My mother’s biscuit recipe is on this blog, Doris’ Biscuits, but this is my modified version   I have trouble getting consistent biscuits her way   These are no fail   

2 1/2 cup White Lilly self rising flour 

1 stick butter frozen then grated

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup cold milk or buttermilk

Put flour and baking powder in bowl and mix together. Grate frozen butter over flour

Stir grated butter into flour. Add milk and stir very little.   Flour a board heavily and put mixture out on flour. With Floured hands pat dough into a small rectangle.  Fold over itself three times for flaky layers.  Pat out to height of biscuit cutter.  Cut all biscuits.  Reform dough scraps and cut rest of biscuits.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes at 450 degrees in a skillet or on a heavy baking sheet pan. 

Tomato Gravy

My mom made this many Sunday nights to put over her homemade biscuits   Nothing better This gravy is one reason to can you own tomatoes   

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 to 3/4 cup plain flour

One quart home canned tomatoes or one large can of quality diced tomatoes

Make roux with oil and flour.  Stir constantly on medium fire till the color is  brown like the color of a brown paper sack. Do not let it burn. 

Add tomatoes and stir.  Add water to your desired consistency.  Cook until tomatoes are mostly broken up.  Season with pepper and salt as needed.