LSU vs. Mississippi State

Last week, I had a few friends over for the LSU vs. Mississippi State game. I made one of my staples, crawfish pie. Crafish PIE is a weird concept for people unfamiliar with Louisiana food, but I've never met anyone who doesn't like it, once they try it.

They are very easy to make, so I'll share a little here:

I start with sweating onion, bell pepper and celery (the "trinity"....lower case "t") in some butter and olive oil. Once cooking, I add fresh garlic to the mix and start on my roux.

My mom has always made her crawfish pie without the roux, but I tried it once to see if I could make the flavor a little richer, and it worked brilliantly, so I've done it ever since. In a cast iron skillet, I heat up 1/2 cup of oil and whisk in 1/2 cup of flour. I cut the heat to medium/high and whisk (don't stop until its done or you'll burn it) until I get the dark brown color I want. Turn the heat off and let it sit.

Once the veggies are cooked, I add in my roux and stir until its throughly mixed in. Once that is done, I add my crawfish tails and seasonings (little salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, bay, thyme, dried basil, Old Bay, and whatever else you might like). Once everything comes back up to cooking temperature, I add a little white wine.

Next, I add a little cream of mushroom soup. This is why I only add a little salt initially, because the soup will add a good bit to the mix. This really helps to give the pie the "creaminess" that is so good. Once the soup is mixed in well and comes to heat, I turn the burner down to low, so all the flavors can marry. At this point, I try a little to make sure I have my salt and seasonings the way I want them.

Once its its the way you want it, turn burner off and let it start cooling a little. I usually put the bottom layer of my pie crust in the oven for a few minutes to get the bottoms cooking so the bottom of the pies are crispy enough. I then fill the pies with my filling, and put the tops on them. Make sure to put some slits or holes so that top does not explode and make a mess in your oven. Cook at 350 for about 20 minutes or until pie tops are golden brown.

I hope you enjoy.