Recipes

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Cast Away Crawfish Mac and Cheese

This is one that I’ve been working on for a while and found that the Gouda cheese and heavy whipping cream makes all the difference. I used my big blue 13.5×9.5 baking dish for this one so it’s large enough to feed about 8-10 people. I don’t do a lot of measuring but I just kinda spitball the size of the ingredients. Here’s what I used.

12-ounce bag of cleaned crawfish tails

1-2 cups of small cooked deveined-tail-off shrimp

1/2 stick of melted butter

1&1/2 cup of chopped sweet onion

3 cups of macaroni noodles

1&1/2 cups of shredded gouda cheese

1&1/2 cups of shredded Colby jack cheese

1 four-ounce square of cubed Velveeta cheese

1 tbsp. Seafood Magic

1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning

1-pint heavy whipping cream

salt and pepper to taste

1 box of the Frenches fried onions for topping

First, I boiled the macaroni noodles and drained them. While the noodles were still hot after draining, I put the noodles back in the boiling pan and mixed in about 2 tablespoons of butter to the noodles and then put the shredded cheese and Velveeta cheese in the bottom of a large mixing bowl. I put the hot noodlwes on top of the cheese to help the cheese melt.

In a frying pan I melted another 1/4 stick of butter and sauteed the onions, then added the crawfish tails and seasoning. I let the crawfish cook for about 5 minutes with the sauteed onions, then I drained the crawfish and onions before adding them to the macaroni and cheese mixture in the bowl. I stirred the mixture until a lot of the cheese melted and then folded in the whipping cream. salt and pepper to taste.

I put the mixture in my big blue baking dish and topped with the Frenches fried onions and covered. I baked the mixture for 30 minutes covered and 10-15 minutes uncovered at 350 degrees. I removed it and let it cool for a couple minutes before serving.

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Cast Away Creamy Crawfish Pie

It was probably close to 30 years ago when I had my first taste of a crawfish pie. Prior to that first taste I was a bit skeptical of a pie that wasn’t sweet. Pie was supposed to be sweet and the thought of putting seafood in a pie was beyond me. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve ate my share of chicken pot pies over the years, but I never dreamed you could use seafood in a pie. My grandmother used to make homemade minced meat pies out of leftover pot roast, but the pies she made were still a bit sweet with sugar and raisins added to the finely ground roast. Minced meat and rhubarb pies were a favorite of mine at my grandmother’s house growing up so I figured “what the heck”, might as well add a mudbug pie to the list of weird pies I’ve eaten.

My old buddy Steve Bumblis, a friend from my Navy days in San Diego as well as New Orleans introduced me to crawfish pie one evening when I was a guest at his house for dinner. He made one pie for our dinner that night, and he made one pie for me to take home. By the time I finished my second slice of crawfish pie at dinner, it left me wanting more, and the cool part was that Steve made me another one for me to enjoy at home. Steve was a good friend but passed 10 years ago and every time I have crawfish pie it reminds me of Steve and New Orleans. This recipe is in memory of an old friend.

You may want to play with the ingredients and tweak it to your liking. Some of the sizes of the ingredients I just kinda spitball these days.

Ingredients:

  • 12-ounce bag of cleaned crawfish tails
  • 1/2 stick of melted butter
  • 1 cup of chopped sweet onion
  • 1 cup of chopped green bell pepper
  • 1 cup of chopped celery
  • 1 tsp. Seafood Magic
  • 1 tsp. Crab boil
  • 1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
  • 3 tbsp All purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp corn starch
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1/2 -1 can Cream of Mushroom soup (optional)
  • 1 small soften diced potato (optional)
  • Marie Callendar deep dish pie crust
  • Pillsbury pie crust for the top
  • salt and pepper to taste

Note: If I don’t add the canned soup to the mixture, I replace it with 1/2 to 1 cup of the whipping cream.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

I start out by melting the butter in my big nonstick pan, then adding the celery, onion and green bell pepper. I let that mixture simmer and soften for about 5 minutes then I added my crawfish tails, crab boil, seafood seasoning and Old Bay, and let everything simmer for about 5 minutes. I like to drain off any excess butter, then add my flour, stirring it into the mix. Next, I add my whipping cream and soup and simmer for 5 minutes. Lastly, I mix my corn starch with the water, and I added just a little chicken bouillon to the starch and water before mixing it well and adding to my pie filling mixture and stirring well. The corn starch mixture will help thicken the pie. Once I get it well mixed, I remove the mixture from the heat and pour it into a deep-dish pie crust of your choice. I usually used Marie Callender deep dish pie crusts and use an egg wash to brush on the top crust.

Once I put the top crust on and brush it with egg wash, I bake the pie for about 30 minutes or until the crust is turning brown. I like to serve it with red beans and rice and my southern potato salad. Here’s some pictures I took of the process.

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Christmas Cookies and Cream Cheesecake

This was a first for me. I’m more of a meat and potatoes guy with an appetite for Cajun cuisine and chocolate, but I had some cheesecake over Thanksgiving that made me want to make a cheesecake of my own. I’ve dabbled in no-bake cheesecake recipes in the past, but this was my first stab at baking a cheesecake and it turned out absolutely delicious. We brought it to a party yesterday evening and it was a big hit. I’m glad I made two! Here’s the recipe I used.

Ingredients:

For the crust:

  • 20 Choclate Oreo cookies
  • 5 tbsp melted butter

For the filling and topping:

  • 24 ounces of cream cheese
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 1 tbsp of Vanilla extract
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 3 eggs
  • 5-10 Chocolate Oreo cookies (crumbled)
  • 3 small peppermint candy canes (crumbled)
  • 1 small tub of Cool Whip
  • 1 can of Redi-whip

You’re going to need a 9-inch springform baking pan, roasting pan and a hand mixer for this recipe but other than that, it’s just a little time consuming.

Instructions I used:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees:

First, I ground up the 20 Oreos in our little food processor until they were finely chopped then I added my melted butter to the Oreos in a small mixing bowl and mixed well. I sprayed the bottom and sides of my springform pan with nonstick spray and packed the crust mixture to the bottom of the pan. I baked the crust for about 10 minutes at 350 and set aside to cool.

You’ll need to line the bottom of the springform pan with an 18-inch by 18-inch heavy tinfoil square to keep water from seeping in the springform pan when it’s baking in submerged water. I used 2 layers of tinfoil making sure there were no tears so water could get in.

In a medium size mixing bowl I mixed the softened cream cheese and sugar with my hand mixer until it was creamy then I slowly added the Vanilla extract, eggs as well as the sour cream. Once it was well mixed and creamy looking, I folded in about 10 crumbled Oreos and poured the mixture in the tinfoil lined springform pan for baking.

I made sure my oven shelf was low enough to accommodate my roasting pan and I centered the springform baking pan with the cheesecake mixture inside the roasting pan. I filled the roasting pan with warm water until the water level got about halfway up the springform pan and I gingerly placed the pan in the oven for 50-60 minutes or until it looked like the center had set. The picture below gives you an idea of what it looked in the oven while baking in the water.

Once it was done, I turned off the oven and opened the door to the oven a bit to let it cool in place for about 30 minutes. Then I removed it from the oven and the roasting pan to further cool. I let it cool 30 minutes on the counter at room temperature and then placed it in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

Topping:

After it cooled in the refrigerator, I gently removed the sides of the springform pan and prepped it for the topping. I put about an inch layer of Cool Whip on the top and sprinkled on the crumbled Oreos and candy canes. I kinda garnished the edge of the cheesecake with Redi Whip right before serving. It was Delicious, enjoy!

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Crockpot Crawfish Mac and Cheese

Recently, my friend Chris asked me if I had a crawfish mac and cheese recipe and I didn’t, but it got my culinary gears a turning so I came up with something I’ve wanted to try for a while. I’ve never made mac and cheese in a crockpot before, but I recently saw a recipe, so I decided to come up with a crawfish mac and cheese recipe to slow cook in the crockpot. I gotta say that it turned out great. I think the secret was the heavy whipping cream.

Ingredients:

  • 1 16 ounce box of elbow macaroni (uncooked)
  • 12 ounces of peeled and cleaned crawfish
  • 2 cups of milk
  • 1 pint of heavy whipping cream
  • 4 ounces of cream cheese
  • 1 cup of chopped sweet Vidalia onion
  • 8 ounces of shredded or small cubed Gouda cheese
  • 8 ounces of shredded or small cubed sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 4 ounces of American cheese
  • 1 tbsp. Old Bay seasoning or to your liking
  • 1 tbsp Cajun seasoning
  • salt and pepper to taste

This was pretty easy to make. I just sprayed the bottom of the crockpot with Pam to keep the noodles from sticking to the bottom. I just added all of the ingredients above, stirred it well, and made sure the macaroni was covered, with the crockpot on low. It was kinda thin to start with, but it thickened up as time went by and the cheese started to melt. I kept the dish covered and started stirring after the first hour. It took about 2 hours covered on low and then I kicked it up to high for the last 30 minutes. Top it with breadcrumbs and serve it as a side dish with a nice juicy steak. Enjoy!!

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Cajun Crawfish Corn Muffins

Recently I ran across a recipe for crawfish cornbread, and it inspired me to put my own Man Camp spin on the recipe to make a nice addition for gumbo, red beans and rice and the seafood entrees I prepare. I had to tweak a few ingredients to make it the way I wanted it so by all means, play with the ingredients to your liking and Enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • 2 boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix (Don’t use instructions on box)
  • 12-ounce bag of clean and cooked crawfish tails
  • 1/2 stick of margarine or butter
  • 1 cup of chopped sweet onion
  • 1 cup chopped green onion (optional)
  • 1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 can drained Rotel Diced tomatoes and green chilis
  • 1 cup Pepper Jack or Colby cheese (cheddar works great)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and mix the ingredients above in a large mixing bowl. I greased my 12 muffins pan and filled each almost level with the top. You want to allow for the muffins to rise so I don’t fill them completely. There should be enough for at least 12 muffins.

I baked the muffins for around 20-25 minutes, but I mainly monitored to tops till they started to turn a golden brown on the tops. If you made sure your pan was well greased, they should come out without sticking after a few minutes to cool and ready to serve warm. Enjoy!!

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Crawfish Alfredo Stuffed Pasta Shells

Pasta has always been a must for me, especially as a competitive distance runner, the carbohydrates from pasta was always a must the night before a race or a long training run. In this recipe I’ve combined a hint of Louisiana with a lot of cheesy goodness stuffed inside pasta. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • 12-ounce bag of clean cooked crawfish tails
  • 1/4 stick of melted margarine (optional)
  • 1/2 cup of chopped sweet onion
  • 1/2 cup of fresh or thawed chopped broccoli tops
  • 1 tbsp. minced garlic
  • 1tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp. Cajun seasoning
  • 1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
  • 1 8-ounce pack of softened cream cheese
  • 1 jar of garlic alfredo
  • 1/2 cup grated mild cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 box of large pasta shells
  • 1 tbsp. parsley topped for garnish (optional)
  • salt and pepper to taste

This recipe was created from me digging around the kitchen pantry to put something together for dinner years ago. Since I first started stuffing pasta shells, I’ve used chicken, shrimp and ground beef as well as crawfish. By all means make adjustments, additions or subtractions as necessary.

First, I boiled the pasta according to the directions on the box, stirring gently so you don’t tear the shells when they boil. I also preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Next, I mix my ingredients for the stuffing adding just about everything listed above except the shells, but I save some crawfish to use as topping at the end. I only add a quarter of the jar of alfredo to the stuffing mixture and one quarter of the jar to coat the bottom of my 9×13 baking dish. Once everything is mixed, I start stuffing the shells and lining them up in the pan.

Once I’ve filled the pan with the stuffed shells, I top it off with the remaining alfredo sauce, the remaining crawfish tails and lightly cover with some grated cheddar cheese.

I bake them uncovered at 375 degrees for 35 minutes and let it cool for a few minutes before serving. I usually serve it with garlic or French bread on the side. Enjoy!

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Cast Away Seafood Lasagna

This seafood recipe is a little tough to make but the outcome is always delicious. It’s probably not something you put together at fish camp or deer camp but it makes a great meal at home. I used Louisiana crawfish to spice it up a bit and cooked the seafood in a Cajun seasoning before mixing it in. It gives the lasagna a little hint of Louisiana. Here’s the breakdown on how I make it.

First off, I boil my lasagna noodles. I use 9 noodles for my 9×13 baking dish, but I do boil and extra noodle or two just in case. After boiling the noodles as instructed on the box, I set them aside till later.

Now I’m going to prep the seafood layer. I used about a 1/2 lb of raw, peeled shrimp. Your call on the size but keep in mind that if they are larger shrimp, I usually cut them down to a smaller size. I use 1 package of peeled Louisiana crawfish and you can usually find the crawfish at the Walmart at highway 400 and 369. They are in the frozen seafood section. I also throw in a couple cups of imitation crab meat. The crab meat gives the seafood mixture an interesting taste. I start with a little butter or margarine because everything starts with butter or margarine. And then I add the shrimp and crawfish. I use the juice in the crawfish bag also because that juice is just full of crawfish flavor. Here’s how it goes:

For the cheese layer I like to use 16 ounces of Ricotta cheese so I mix the Ricotta with 1 egg, 3 tablespoons of fresh or dried parsley, 1 tablespoon of minced garlic. I mix the ingredients thoroughly and set it aside.

Next is the main sauce and I start with a big can of Progresso Clam chowder. I add 2 cups of heavy whipping cream, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese and a dash of salt and pepper.

So now I’m ready to start putting it together. First, I spread a little bit of sauce all over the bottom of the pan to keep the lasagna noodles from sticking to the pan. I put a layer of the Ricotta cheese mixture down which should be about half the total mixture. Then I add half the seafood mixture and cover it with half of the sauce mixture. I then spread a half of a cup of grated parmesan cheese and half of a cup of mozzarella cheese on top of the mixture. I add another layer of lasagna noodle and repeat the layering with the remainder of the ingredients. Top it off with a final noodle layer and a little more parmesan and mozzerella cheese. I sprinkle a bit of parsley flakes on top for garnish and I cover and bake the mixture at 375 for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes I uncover and bake at 350 for another 15 minutes.

Give it a few minutes to cool after you remove it and you’re ready to serve. I usually serve it with Texas toast. Enjoy!

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Blackened Redfish w/ Crawfish Cream Sauce

When I want a little taste of the Big Easy, this is one of my favorite Cajun comfort foods. This is one of the many reasons I keep going back to the Louisiana marsh in search of redfish year after year. This recipe is a combination of redfish and crawfish with the flavor of the deep south and each bite I take brings back another memory of my time in Sportsman’s Paradise.

On my last trip to Louisiana, we caught and kept some smaller redfish in the 2-4lb range which was perfect for the way I wanted to cook them. We did catch some bigger reds that I will specifically grill on the half shell but these smaller ones I wanted to filet and blacken on our Blackstone. Lisa and I freezer packed the redfish in 4 filet servings.

The redfish filets were prepared by removing any remaining bones, skin and scales. I cleaned and dried the filets before cutting them into smaller pieces and applying the blackening seasoning. They are now prepped for the Blackstone and ready to cook.

Next, I’m going to prep everything for my crawfish cream sauce. This cream sauce not only goes great over redfish but as an appetizer, it is awesome over toasted French bread or our favorite, crostini toast.

Here’s a list of ingredients for the sauce mix. (We like to purchase our crawfish at the Walmart at 369 and 400):

Ingredients:

  • 12-ounce bag of clean crawfish tails
  • 1/4 stick of margarine
  • 2 cups of heavy whipping cream
  • 1/2 cup of chopped sweet onion
  • 1 tbsp. minced garlic
  • 1tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp. Cajun seasoning
  • 1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
  • 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp. parsley
  • salt and pepper to taste.

First, on medium heat I melt the margarine and add the onion. I then add the crawfish and let the crawfish and onion cook down for a few minutes. I then add the minced garlic, Worcestershire sauce and seasoning, mixing thoroughly. Lastly, I add the flour to the mixture and mix thoroughly again before adding the whipping cream. After adding the whipping cream I bump the heat up a little till the mixture starts to simmer. I turn the heat back down to low simmer and continue to stir until the mixture thickens to a creamy sauce.

At the same time, I’m starting the Blackstone and preparing the redfish filets. I start with a few slices of bacon to help season the grill and cook the asparagus. It doesn’t take long to cook the fish and I only flip them once. Of course, cooking time depends on the size of the filets but the cook time for our filets around minutes.

Once the filets were done, we had a little appetizer with the crawfish creamy sauce and then dinner was served.

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Cast Away Cajun Seafood Dip

A few years back my lake neighbor Glen introduced me to his Langostino lobster cheese dip at a Christmas party he hosted, and I got the original dip recipe from him. Glen’s recipe inspired me to make a Cajun rendition because of my time in Louisiana and my love for cooking Cajun food. Although it’s a seafood recipe in title, I thought that the Andouille sausage really gave it some pop and a Cajun flair. I get the Louisiana Crawfish at the Walmart at 369 and 400 and I’m pretty sure you can find the sausage there also. They make three different kinds of sausage, mild, medium and hot. Your call on that but I prefer the mild or medium. The picture above is just about everything I used for the dip, and it makes enough for 10+. I reduce the ingredients to half for a smaller group of 4-6 guests.

Ingredients:

  • 1lb of cooked and peeled shrimp
  • 2- 12ounce packages of cleaned Louisiana crawfish tails (sautéed for 10 minutes)
  • 1 package of Ragin Cajun Andouille sausage
  • 1/2 chopped sweet onion.
  • 2 8-ounce packages of Philadelphia cream cheese (softened)
  • 1/2 tbsp of Old Bay (optional)
  • 2 cans of Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilis (drained).
  • 12 ounce bag of grated parmesan
  • 12 ounce bag of grated mild cheddar cheese
  • 1 cup of grated Mexican blend
  • Lemon pepper, salt and coarse ground pepper to taste.

Instructions:

First, I preheat the Oven to 375 and sauté the crawfish in the juice from the package for 10 minutes. That gives the crawfish a great flavor. I mix the thawed shrimp in a bowl with the crawfish and that gives the shrimp a good flavor also.

Next comes the sausage cut into quarters and the the rest of the ingredients listed above, stirring as I go. Once everything is mixed, the mixture goes in my deep 9×13 baking dish.

I cover the top with foil and bake the mixture for 45 minutes and transfer it to the crockpot. At that point I stir and serve with scoops.

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Cast Away Chicken Pot Pie

This is one recipe that doesn’t take a lot of prep time and is a delicious meal for fish camp or deer camp. I make it from time to time and usually we have enough leftovers for sharing with family members. Since we just celebrated thanksgiving, sometimes, I’ll use the leftover turkey or ham instead of a chicken.

Ingredients:

  • 1 roasted chicken or 1-2lbs of leftover turkey
  • 1/2 stick of melted butter
  • 1 can of cream of chicken soup
  • 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
  • 1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
  • 1 16-ounce bag of mixed vegetables
  • 3 cubed softened potatoes
  • 2 cans of plain crescent rolls
  • salt and pepper to taste

Make sure your vegetables are thawed before mixing and mix all the ingredients above in a large mixing bowl.

I use one of the crescent roll cans and line the bottom of a greased (or Pam) 9×13 baking dish. Spread the chicken mixture evenly on top of the crescent dough.

After spreading the mixture evenly, spread the other can of crescent dough across the top. You may need to stretch it a little to cover the top.

I bake mine at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes uncovered.

Enjoy!!