Marys Crayfish Pies Recipes

DOUG'S CRAWFISH PIE

Steps:

• Melt butter in a large skillet on medium heat, then stir in flour; cook until light brown, about 10 minutes. Add sweet onion, green pepper, celery, and green onions. Cover and simmer on low heat for about one hour, stirring occasionally.
• Stir in vegetable broth and tomato paste, and cook until it reaches a creamy consistency. Mix in crawfish tails, garlic, and parsley, then cook for about 15 minutes or until the tails are tender. Stir in salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and hot sauce.
• Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake the puff pastry shells for 5 to 7 minutes, or until they puff up and start to brown a little. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Pull off center tops and save. Turn oven down to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Spoon mixture into puff pastry shells until slightly overfilled. Put extra filling into a pie dish and cover with the remaining puff pastry shell center tops to create 6 small pies and 1 large crawfish pie. Place pies on a baking sheet.
• Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the shells are golden brown and the filling has a nice shine to it.

CRAWFISH PIE

Steps:

• Place the pie crust into a deep-dish pie plate.
• Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir the onion, green pepper, celery, salt, cayenne pepper, and white pepper until the vegetables are tender and the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and crawfish tails, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for about 3 minutes to blend flavors, stirring occasionally.
• Whisk flour and water together in a bowl until the mixture is smooth, and pour the flour mixture into the skillet. Bring the filling to a simmer, and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to stand for 20 to 30 minutes to finish thickening.
• While filling is cooling, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust, and bake in the preheated oven until the crust is golden brown and the filling is hot and bubbling, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

CRAWFISH PIE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt. Using your hands work in the lard until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Work the dough until you have a smooth ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough in half and roll each ball into a circle about 14 inches in diameter and 1/8-inch thick. Gently fold the circle of dough in half and then in half again so that you can lift it without tearing the dough, and unfold into a 9-inch pie pan. Reserve the other circles for the top of the pie.
• In a large saute pan, heat the butter. When the butter is melted, add the onions, peppers, celery, shallots, garlic, salt, cayenne, and black pepper. Saute for 8 minutes, or until the vegetables are golden and wilted. Add the tomatoes and cook for 6 minutes. Add the crawfish tails and parsley. Stirring occasionally, cook for about 4 minutes. Dissolve the flour in the water and add to the pan. Stir for about 2 minutes, or until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat. Cool for at least 30 minutes.
• Pour the cooled filling into the piecrust. Top the filling with the remaining crust and crimp the edges. Place the pie in the center of a cookie sheet and brush with an egg wash. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the edges of the piecrust are golden. Cool for 10 minutes before slicing. Place a slice of the pie in the center of a plate. Garnish with chives, red peppers, and cheese.

CRAWFISH PIE

Steps:

• Add bell pepper, onion and celery to butter and saute until tender. Add crawfish fat and simmer covered 10 minutes. Add crawfish tails, green onions and remainder of seasonings. Thicken if necessary with a little cornstarch and let cook long enough to thicken gravy.
• Using your favorite pie crust recipe, make enough pie dough for a double crust pie. Place the dough in a 9-inch pie pan. Gently press the dough to the bottom and sides. Cut excess dough, leaving a 1-inch overhang. Fill the pie shell with the cooled filling. With a pastry brush, dip in cold water and moisten the outside edge of the pastry shell. Place top crust over the filling, cutting off the overhang even with the overhang on the bottom crust. Crimp the top and bottom crusts together, trim. Cut 2 or 3 one-inch parallel slits in the top of the pie. Place pie in a preheated 450 degree oven and bake for 10 minutes, then lower heat to 375 degrees and cook for 35 minutes longer or until crust is a golden brown. Serve hot as a main course.
• Individual pies:
• Using the same procedure, individual pie pans or a muffin pan with large cups can be used instead of a large pie pan. Roll the dough, fit into the cups, place the filling in the cups. Moisten the edges with cold water. Place a circle of dough on top. Crimp edges together. Cut a 1-inch slit in the center. Bake as above.

MOM'S EASY CRAWFISH PIE

Steps:

• Saute white onions in half of the butter.
• Add the cream of mushroom and simmer for 3 minute.
• Pour into a bowl with evap. milk, set aside.
• Saute crawfish, green onions, and cajun seasoning in the other half of the butter.
• Pour crawfish mix into bowl, mix well.
• Pour into pie crusts and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes.
• Watch the color. You want a light to medium brown.

CORNMEAL-CRUSTED CRAYFISH PIES

Steps:

• Place the flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the butter in small pieces and pulse into the dry mix just until coarse pebbles form. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. By hand, gradually work in the sour cream and 1/4 cup ice water. The dough should be soft and pliable but not sticky. Adjust as necessary with flour or water. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes (or up to a day in advance).
• To prepare the pies, preheat the oven to 350°F. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts. Roll each part into a very thin (1/8-inch) round and drape it into a 4-ounce tart pan or individual gratin dish. Cover each shell with parchment paper or foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Place the pie shells on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly golden. Remove the beans and parchment and bake 1-2 minutes longer. Don't let them color too much, because they will be baked again with the filling. Let them cool to room temperature.
• Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery, bell pepper, and fennel, if using, and sauté for about 5 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic, scallions, and parsley and cook for 2-3 minutes more. Sprinkle the vegetables with the flour and stir. Whisk in the stock, lemon zest and juice, and Worcestershire sauce. Add the crayfish and simmer for a few more minutes, until the crayfish is warm. Adjust the seasonings with salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Cool to room temperature or refrigerate until ready to make pies.
• Fill each cooled shell with 3 ounces (about 6 tablespoons) of crayfish filling. Set them on a baking sheet and bake at 350°F until hot and bubbly, about 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
• I cook only with Louisiana crayfish-accept no substitutes! Frozen varieties are available from China, but they have no texture or flavor. That's because the fat that normally coats fresh crayfish does not freeze well (it tends to go rancid before the tail meat does), so it's rinsed off before freezing. But crayfish needs that fat to retain its sweet flavor. Your best bet is to choose a Louisiana source (see Sources, p. 384) whose crayfish are frozen close to the end of the January-to-June season. Better yet, buy a few pounds of fresh crayfish and freeze them yourself, but use them up within four weeks.
• Put your fear of pastry aside-this cornmeal pie dough is not sticky and is absolutely wonderful to work with. If you don't want to bother blind-baking pie shells you can simply prepare these as little turnovers. Roll each portion of dough into a 6-inch round, place a few tablespoons of filling on one half, fold the other side over the top, and crimp the edges together with a fork or your fingers. Brush them with egg wash, if you like, and bake at 350°F until golden, about 25-30 minutes, or deep-fry them-which is more traditional.

MARY BERRY'S FISH PIE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven 200C/400°F Grease a shallow 2.5 litre with butter.
• Melt the butter in a pan on a high heat and fry onion for few minutes.
• Lower the heat, cover and leave to soften for 15 minutes.
• Remove the lid and increase the heat to remove any moisture. Sprinkle in the flour and then add the milk gradually, stirring well and allowing the sauce to thicken until all the milk has been added.
• Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, add lemon juice and the raw fish and cook for couple of minutes, stirring continuously until the fish has just cooked. Stir in the smoked haddock. Pour the mixture into the buttered dish and leave to cool. Top with the hard-boiled eggs.
• For the topping, boil the potatoes in a pan of salted water until tender. Drain, tip the potatoes back into the pan, add milk and butter and mash until lump-free. Use a ricer to get smooth mash. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
• Spread the mash over the top of the sauce and fish in the dish and score with a fork.
• Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until the potato is crisp and golden-brown.

MARY'S CRAYFISH PIES

Steps:

• TO MAKE THE CRUST: Lightly grease twenty-four 3-inch muffin cups with cooking spray (you may need to prepare the pies in two batches). In the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse the 1 cup butter, 2 cups flour, cornmeal, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning, and cayenne until the dough is the size of small peas. Add the eggs, egg yolks, and the 2 teaspoons ice water. Pulse until the dough begins to form a ball. (If you prefer, this can be done in a big bowl with your hands or a pastry cutter: work the butter, flour, cornmeal, salt, Cajun seasoning, and pepper together until they are the size of small peas. Add the eggs, egg yolks, and water and work until the dough forms a ball.) Pat the dough into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate while you make the crayfish filling.
• TO MAKE THE CRAYFISH FILLING: In a large, heavy skillet set over medium heat, melt the 1/2 cup butter until it bubbles. Slowly sprinkle on the 1/2 cup flour, stirring constantly until the mixture is combined. Add the yellow and green onions, bell pepper, and celery and cook, stirring constantly, for 15 minutes. Stir in the crayfish, garlic, brandy, cream, parsley, Tabasco, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning, and cook an additional 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
• To assemble the pies: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Sprinkle a work surface with flour. Pinch off enough cornmeal dough to make 1 1/2-inch balls. Press the dough balls into prepared muffin cups to cover the bottom and up the sides. Spoon the crayfish filling almost to the top of each pie shell. Bake until the filling is hot and the crust is crisp, about 30 minutes.
• Serve warm or at room temperature.
• Freeze well-wrapped baked and cooled pies up to 3 weeks in advance. Thaw in the refrigerator the night before you plan to serve them. Bake for 15 minutes at 350°F to warm before serving.
• These may seem large, especially if you're serving them at a utensil-free cocktail party. (For a first course at a dinner party, I present them on plates with knives and forks.) For cocktail parties, cut them in halves or quarters and set them out on serving dishes so they can be easily picked up and eaten in a bite or two.