InTheKitchen Spicy crawfish jambalaya A wonderful Creole taste bud buster
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Keith Sutton
by Keith Sutton
When I was a youngster growing up in
eastern Arkansas, I must have caught tens of thousands of crawfish. I fished almost
Delta delicious Spicy Crawfish Jambalaya is a celebratory Creole concoction that looks and tastes happy.
every day back then and learned from the elder statesmen who taught me to fish
caught. Fresh crawfish always make the
ham or tasso (a spicy, smoked ham used
that crawfish were among the best baits
best jambalaya, but in a pinch, you can use
in Cajun cooking) can be substituted.
available for catching catfish, bass and
frozen tails from the seafood section of your
Jambalaya is easy to make over a campfire
other sportfish.
local supermarket.
or on your kitchen stove, and this recipe
My friends and I used a variety
of methods to gather these plentiful crustaceans, including homemade
baskets with long handles used to rake
the crawdads out of ditches, commercial
I use andouille sausage to give this
scrumptious Creole dish extra flavor, but
Ingredients
freezes well, too.
b
Directions
crawfish traps set in marshy areas, and
1 pound peeled crawfish tails
strips of bacon fished in ponds using a
4 tablespoons real butter
pole and line. In early summer, when
1 pound andouille sausage, cut in bite-sized
high waters subsided, we often caught
can be easily increased to feed a crowd. It
1. Season crawfish with half of the Tony Chachere’s and set aside.
pieces
2. On medium heat, melt butter in 4-quart cast-iron pot or skillet. Sauté sausage
crawfish simply by walking through
1 medium onion, chopped
until lightly browned. Drain and set aside.
damp woodlands along rivers and
½ cup celery, chopped
Add onions to skillet and continue to sauté
½ cup green bell pepper, chopped
celery, bell peppers and garlic, and sauté,
picking them up. The big red mudbugs took their pound of flesh from us in the process. There came a time when we realized we had been feeding the bait to the
½ cup red bell pepper, chopped
about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add
2 tablespoons minced garlic
stirring constantly, for 5 more minutes.
1 (15-oz.) can Rotel diced tomatoes & green chilies
3. Stir in the crawfish tails, Rotel, sausage and rice, and sauté for 5 more minutes.
wrong parties. Crawfish do, indeed, make
3 cups chicken or seafood stock
Slowly add the stock, then bay leaves, parsley,
excellent fish bait, but this is one bait the
2 bay leaves
Worcestershire sauce and the other half of
fisherman may prefer to save for his own
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
the Tony Chachere’s. Mix well and bring to
dinner. We enjoyed many crawfish boils,
2 tablespoons Tony Chachere’s Original
a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low, and
and peeled leftover tails (when there were any) for use in dishes like etouffée, jambalaya, crawfish au gratin and fried crawfish po’boys (see pg. 14). My favorite was — still is — crawfish
Creole Seasoning, divided
simmer, without stirring, for about 25 to 30
½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
minutes.
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
been absorbed, adjust the seasoning to taste,
2 cups raw Arkansas extra-long-grain rice
and add green onions. Cover and let rest for
5 green onions, chopped
4. Turn heat off when all of the liquid has
jambalaya, because it’s easy to prepare
10 minutes. Serve with a big salad, French
in a Dutch oven over a campfire right
bread and a beverage of your choise.
by the water where the crawfish are
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