Crawfish Bisque and Winners Announced

This past weekend we headed out to the farm to get some pictures in the bluebonnets and finally we had perfect weather to do so. This is the one year where my hair isn't blowing around or it's not raining or it's not hotter then you know what.

Mocha got to play with the cows. Well, not really play more like scream high pitches at them and they all huddle around seeing who's gonna be brave enough to see what the little yappy thing is. One brave soul moved forward and Mocha wasn't sure what to do.

We got her to finally calm down enough to take some pictures in the bluebonnets and get some new family shots.

And you know we had to finish off the evening sipping some wine and enjoying the Texas sunset.
Before I forget congrats to our 2 winners! The pizza cookbook goes to kelgirl105 and the soups cookbook goes to Ramona at The Japanese Redneck. Congrats and happy cooking you guys!! If you would, please email me at crazystar32@gmail.com with your name and address so I can get the books out to asap.

Crawfish, crayfish, crawdads, whatever you call them it's a labor of love to cook and peel these little guys, but in the end the taste is worth it. In the south we look forward to this time of year and gathering together and hosting crawfish boils. I'll have to do a separate post on what all happens at a crawfish boil if you're unfamiliar, but today's recipe uses all the "trash" leftover when you're done peeling them. My recipe involves a lot of work, but be patient and the reward is worth it. The recipe written below uses the whole crawfish, but if you do a separate boil and save the shells you'll use about 2 pounds of shells and 1 pound of crawfish meat. Normally with all the spices thrown in the pot to boil the crawfish you shouldn't have to add any more seasoning besides some salt and pepper at the end if you need it.

Crawfish Bisque

3 pounds crawfish

2 ounces olive oil

seafood seasoning to your liking

2 quarts water

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/2 cup bell peppers, chopped (optional)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

3 cups whipping cream

1/2 cup tomato, chopped

Boil crawfish in a large pot of water. Drain and cool until they can be handeled easily. Remove and refrigerate the tail meat, saveing the shells.

Heat oil in a large sauce pan. Add shells, seafood seasoning and saute 5 minutes. Add water and bring to a boil; reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes.

Strain the liquid into another pan.

Crush shells to remove remaining liquid. Discard shells.

Strain all liquid a second time to be sure all crawfish shells are removed.

Return to heat and add onion, bell pepper, tomato paste, cream and tomatoes. Simmer 1 hour, stirring frequently.

In batches, puree bisque until smooth and return to pot.

Add crawfish tail meat and simmer 10 minutes or until heated through.