Crawfish Cakes and Lemon Butter Sauce ►
Here is a zesty alternative to the ever-popular crab cake. Chef Dick Brennan makes his cakes with crawfish, now readily available (if frozen) nearly everywhere. The crawfish cakes are served with wine-laced lemon sauce.
Ingredients
- Crawfish Cakes
- Unsalted Butter - 1/2 cup (1 stick)
- Onions - 2 cups, diced
- Celery - 1 cup, diced
- Red Bell Pepper - 1 cup, diced
- Green Bell Pepper - 1 cup, diced
- Worcestershire Sauce - 1 tablespoon
- Louisiana Hot Sauce - 1 tablespoon
- Crawfish Tail Meat - 1 pound, fresh
- Romano Cheese - 1/2 cup (2 ounces), grated
- Bread Crumbs - 1 cup, dried
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- All-Purpose Flour - 4 tablespoons, for dusting
- Olive Oil - 1/4 cup
- Lemon Butter Sauce
- Lemon Juice - 2 lemons
- Dry White Wine - 1/4 cup
- Unsalted Butter - 1 cup (2 sticks), cut into tablespoons
Instructions
To make the crawfish cakes: In a large saute pan or skillet, melt the butter and saute the vegetables until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and crawfish tail meat. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the crawfish are heated through. Remove from heat. Add the Romano cheese and bread crumbs and mix thoroughly. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture to a 12-by-18-inch baking sheet and spread out evenly. Refrigerate at least 45 minutes.
Form into eight round cakes, about 1/2 cup each. Dust with flour. In a large saute pan or skillet, heat the olive oil and saute the cakes, four at a time, for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
To make the sauce: Place the lemon juice and wine in a medium non-aluminum saucepan. Cook over medium heat to reduce the liquid by half. Lower the heat and whisk in the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. Remove from heat.
To serve: Ladle sauce onto four 6-inch serving plates. Place two crawfish cakes on each plate.
