Crawfish Cakes with Roasted Garlic Crawfish Sauce

This is a recipe that I entered in the Gilroy Garlic Festival cook off. I think it is a great dish. They, on the other hand, did not. I did not receive an invitation to the festival. My guess is that those people in California are not familiar with crawfish. Since we are now int he middle of crawfish season, I figure that here is a different dish to use leftover crawfish.

Crawfish Cakes

1 pound Crawfish Tails, cooked and Roughly Chopped

1 Tablespoon Butter

4 Cloves of Garlic, chopped

1/3 cup Green Onions, chopped

¼ cup Fresh Parsley, chopped

1 Tablespoon Old Bay Seafood Seasoning

¾ cup Seasoned Bread Crumbs

¾ cup Heavy Cream

¼ teaspoon Salt

¼ teaspoon Black Pepper

¼ teaspoon Fresh Basil Leaves, chopped

Over medium heat, melt butter in a medium saucepan. Sauté garlic in butter until golden brown.  Add green onions and cook until soft.  Add parsley and cook one minute. Add crawfish to pan.  Add Old Bay Seasoning and mix thoroughly.  Add heavy cream and mix well.  Add breadcrumbs and mix well.  The mixture should not be liquidity.  If so add more bread crumbs.  Allow mixture to cool.  Form cakes in hand, making a 2 ½ ” circle.  Place on a foil lined cookie sheet.  Refrigerate for at least two hours.

Cook in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.  You may also deep fry them by heating a fryer to 360 degrees.  Dip crab cake in mixture of milk and beaten egg, then cover with breadcrumbs.  Cook them for 3 minutes or until golden brown.

Roasted Garlic

1 Head of Garlic

1 ½ Tablespoon Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut about ½ inch off the top of the garlic head. Cut the roots so that the garlic will sit flat. Remove most of the skin from the garlic, but leave enough so that the cloves stay together. Place the garlic in a small baking pan, drizzle olive oil over it, and cover with foil. Bake for 1 hour. Allow the garlic to cool before you handle it.

Roasted Garlic Crawfish Sauce

¾  Cup Crawfish Tails, slightly chopped

2 Tablespoons Creole Seasoning

½  Cup Minced Onions

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

2 Cups Heavy Cream

3 Tablespoons Roasted Garlic

2 Tablespoons Butter, cut in to pieces

Coat crawfish with Creole seasoning. Combine crawfish, onions and Worcestershire sauce in a sauté pan. Saute for 2 minutes. Add heavy cream and roasted garlic. Reduce for 10 minutes. Remove from fire. Add butter and stir until butter is melted and incorporated.

Enjoy