Big Johns Nawlins Crab Recipes

CAJUN CRAB CAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
• Flake the crabmeat into a large bowl and add the bread crumbs, mustard, hot sauce, Cajun seasoning, eggs and onion. Mix well but don't overwork or the cakes will be mealy. Divide the mixture into 16 balls and flatten slightly to form the cakes. (The recipe can be made to this point and the cakes can be refrigerated overnight or frozen for up to 1 week.)
• Pour 1/2-inch of vegetable oil into a medium saucepan and heat over medium-high. When oil is hot, fry the cakes in batches until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Keep warm in a low oven until ready to serve.
• Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container.

CHEF JOHN'S CRAB RANGOON

Steps:

• Mix cream cheese, crab meat, green onions, garlic, soy sauce, fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, sesame oil, and cayenne pepper together with a fork until ingredients are blended thoroughly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, 1 or 2 hours.
• Keep wonton wrappers moist by covering with a damp paper towel. Place a small bowl of water nearby on the work surface. With a wet fingertip, moisten surface of wonton. Place 1 1/2 teaspoons of crab filling in center of wonton. Fold 2 opposite corners toward each other over the filling but without touching tips together yet. Fold up the other 2 corners. Working gently from the bottom, squeeze out any air bubbles; pinch together the 4 seams from the bottom up to create a modified pyramid (or "warhead") shape. Place on a dry surface. Continue with remaining wontons.
• Heat oil in deep fryer to 350 degrees F. Fry wontons in batches until golden brown and crispy, gently moving them around in the oil with a strainer to brown each surface, about 3 minutes. Let cool about a minute before eating. Serve with the dipping sauce.
• Whisk ketchup, rice vinegar, brown sugar, and sriracha sauce together in a bowl for the dipping sauce.

BIG JOHN'S BEANS 'N FIXINS RECIPE - (3.1/5)

Steps:

• Combine the ingredients for the Fixins in a small jar, cover, and refrigerate at least a 1/2 hour. (This allows the flavors to "meld"). At "bean" time, empty the can of beans into a small saucepan, and stir in the pre-made Fixins. Over low-medium heat, bring the Beans and Fixins to a simmer, stirring occasionally. When heated through---serve!

CHEF JOHN'S NEW ORLEANS-STYLE BARBEQUED SHRIMP

Steps:

• Peel shrimp and place into a mixing bowl; set shrimp shells aside in a saucepan.
• Drizzle vegetable oil over shrimp and season with black pepper, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, and seafood seasoning. Mix shrimp to coat with spices and cover bowl with plastic wrap; refrigerate shrimp to absorb flavors, at least 1 hour.
• Place reserved shrimp shells in saucepan over medium-high heat with 1 tablespoon butter; cook and stir until shells are pink and fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour in chicken stock, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to low; simmer until shrimp shells have given off their flavor, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Strain shrimp stock through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl and add lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. Stir to combine.
• Place a large skillet over high heat until pan is very hot; sear shrimp in the very hot, dry pan until shrimp are browned, about 1 minute per side.
• Stir 3 tablespoons cold butter, garlic, and minced rosemary into shrimp; cook and stir until shrimp are opaque in the middle and garlic is fragrant, 1 minute. Pour in shrimp stock.
• Transfer shrimp from skillet to a bowl, using a slotted spoon; reserve sauce in skillet. Bring sauce to a boil and cook until reduced slightly, about 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste. Return shrimp to pan, reduce heat to low, and warm through, about 1 minute. Serve shrimp drizzled with pan sauce; garnish with a rosemary sprig.

BIG JOHN'S CLASSIC CRAB CAKES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, add all ingredients except flour and mix by hand until well combined.
• Melt butter to brown in pan over medium heat.
• Make 8 equally sized portions and form into cakes 2.
• 5" in diameter and 3/4" thick.
• Dust with flour.
• Fry cakes in butter over medium-high heat until golden brown on both sides.

CHEF JOHN'S CRAB CAKES

Steps:

• Mix saltine crackers, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, seafood seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, egg, salt, and cayenne pepper in a large bowl.
• Stir in crabmeat until mixture is combined but still chunky. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Sprinkle breadcrumbs on a plate.
• Shape chilled crab mixture into 4 small thick patties; coat completely with bread crumbs.
• Melt butter in a skillet over medium-heat; cook crab cakes until golden brown, about 4 minutes per side.

BIG JOHN'S SOUTHERN FRIED CATFISH

Steps:

• Pat outside if fish with paper towel to remove extra moisture.
• In shallow dish, combine all dry ingredients except flour.
• Dip fish in buttermilk, shake off excess buttermilk and coat with flour.
• Dip again in buttermilk, then coat with cornmeal mixture.
• In large heavy skillet (cast iron is best), heat oil over medium-high heat until hot.
• Fry fish about 5 minutes per side, depending on thickness, or until fish will flake away with a fork.

NEW ORLEANS (NAWLINS) STYLE CRAB BISQUE

Steps:

• Cook bacon is a large frying pan with a little oil on low to get the grease out of the bacon.
• Chop pepper, tomato, onion, celery and carrots, then add to the bacon in the frying pan. Let simmer for about 15-20 minutes on medium low heat.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• In a large glass bowl add cream (you can add more or less if you like your bisque thicker or thinner then the recipe calls for), add crab meat, and corn(still frozen).
• Put a strainer over top of a small bowl. Take your frying pan with the vegetables and bacon and strain the grease from them into the bowl. Add 3 heaping tablespoons of corn starch to the grease and stir. After blended well add 1 tablespoon of zatarains crab boil to the grease/cornstarch mixture. (you can add more crab boil if you like yours spicier). Stir the crab boil into the mixture.
• Add grease/cornstarch/crab boil mixture to the bowl with the crab, cream, and corn. Stir well.
• Cover the bowl with foil and bake on 325 degrees for 45 minutes. Stir the mixture every 15 minutes, and remove the foil during the last 10 minutes of cooking.
• Optional garnish: sprinkle with pepper and add a little parsley.

REAL N'AWLINS MUFFALETTA

Steps:

• At least a day before serving- Cut bread in half horizontally; hollow out some of the excess bread to make room for the filling. Spread each piece of bread with equal amounts of the olive salad, including oil.
• Top the bottom half (over the olive salad) with layers of the meats and cheeses in any order. I like to layer a meat, then a cheese.
• Put the two halves together and wrap tightly. Refrigerate for several hours or preferably overnight; this allows the flavors to mingle and the olive salad to soak into the bread. I turn the loaf over several times while in fridge so the oil evenly soaks both top and bottom of sandwich.
• To serve- cut into serving sizes; this sandwich is so fat you may need to put toothpicks in it to hold it together! It is extremely filling; a little bit goes a long way. Easily serves 8-10 hungry people.

BIG JOHN'S N'AWLINS CRAB

Steps:

• In a food processor, chop basil, garlic and walnuts.
• With it running, slowly add olive oil in a steady stream.
• Add cheeses, salt and pepper and pulse the mixer a couple times.
• Set aside.
• Dredge the crabs in butter and place in a hot skillet over medium heat.
• Add about 1/3 of the butter and sauté crabs about 2- 3 minutes per side.
• Season to taste with cajon seasoning while sautéing.
• Remove the crabs and place on warm platter, add all ingredients for Bordelaise together, including remaining butter and with the exception of the parsley, sauté 3-4 minutes, remove from heat and add parsley.
• Lay slices of french bread on the plates, cover with Bordelaise, add crabs, top with pesto and sprinkle with cajon seasoning.