Fried Green Tomato With Spicy Crawfish & a Charred Tomato Lemon Butter

  

This is a dish that we had at Walker's Drive In in Jackson, Mississippi this weekend while attending the Zippity Doo Dah Weekend.  I have tried to recreate it and hope this fits the bill.  I swear the whole table was licking the plate!  I will dedicate this to all of the Vietnam Veteran's.

My Adaptation of Walker’s Drive In

Fried Green Tomatoes with Spicy Crawfish in a Charred Tomato Lemon Butter

Charred Tomato Lemon Butter

Ingredients:

• 2 each Roma Tomatoes
• ½ cup White Wine
• ½ tbsp. Chopped Shallots
• ½ cup Heavy Cream
• 1 tbsp. Lemon Juice
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 8 oz. Cold cubed Butter
• Olive Oil

Directions:

1. Cut tomatoes in half and lightly brush with oil. Place on hot grill for several minutes turning several times until slightly charred then remove from grill.

2. In a 2-quart sauce pan, add white wine, lemon juice, shallots and coarsely chop charred tomato at med-high heat.

3. Reduce by ¾’s, then add heavy cream and reduce by ½.

4. Remove from heat and slowly whip in butter season with salt.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 3 medium, firm green tomatoes
• Salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp Cajun seasoning (optional)
• 1/2 cup milk or buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup peanut oil or other vegetable oil

Method

1 Cut unpeeled tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices. Sprinkle slices with salt. Let tomato slices stand for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, place in separate shallow bowls: the flour and Cajun seasoning (if using), buttermilk and egg, and bread crumbs and cornmeal.

2 Heat the peanut oil in a skillet on medium heat. Beat the egg and the buttermilk together. Dip tomato slices in the flour-seasoning mix, then buttermilk-egg mixture, then the cornmeal-bread crumb mix. In the skillet, fry half of the coated tomato slices at a time, for 3-5 minutes on each side or until brown. Set the cooked tomatoes on paper towels to drain.

Sauteed Spicy Crawfish Tails

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup minced onions

Salt and pepper
1 pound crawfish tails

Cayenne to taste

In a large saute pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onions and season with salt and pepper. Saute for 1 minute. Add the crawfish tails and season with cayenne. Continue to saute for 2 to 3 minutes

To Plate

Place a bed of spring mix on a plate.  Layer slices of fried green tomatoes.  Cover with sautéed crawfish.  Spoon sauce over the top of it all. 

Dang.  I need to make this NOW!!!

Duck and Wild Rice Casserole

There is nothing better on a winter's eve than a duck casserole.  Nothing.  I'm going to give you my recipe and at the same time inject some humor to have you all "quacking up"!  This is really very easy but tell everyone that you slaved all day.  I'll give you a list of ingredients first, and then we'll proceed to waddle over to the kitchen and stir this up.

If you don't have any ducks flying over your house, or you are just a bad shot, go to the store and get:

1 large duck

3 stalks of celery

1 onion

1 package long grain and wild rice 6 oz.

a buttload of wild mushrooms

1/2 cup chopped onion

1.2 cup melted butter

1/4 cup flour

1 1/2 cups half and half

chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup slivered almonds

salt

pepper

Stick Daffy in a pot and cover with water. Add the stalks of celery roughly chopped, 1 onion cut in quarters, salt and pepper.  Simmer a little over an hour until Daffy is tender.  Remove him from the pot, let him cool down and then remove the meat off the bone, cut into chunks and set aside.  I always strain my stock and save it for other recipes. Cook the rice according to the package but use duck stock instead of water.  Saute the 1/2 cup of onion and the mushrooms in the butter.  I hope you actually bought a buttload.  You may have to add a bit more butter.  Add the flour and stir until smooth.  Gradually stir in some more duck stock until it is thickened and bubbly.  Mix in your duck, rice, half and half and parsley.  Dump it all into a greased 2 qt. casserole dish.  Sprinkle almonds on top.  Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Uncover it and bake 10 more minutes.  By now all of your neighbors will be smelling this and beating a path to your door.  Maybe you should have made 2!  Serve with a nice Pinot Noir a simple salad and put on Looney Tunes.

You are going to LOVE this!

Not The Same Old Same Old Stuffed Pepper

I have been missing comfort food from the past.  I used to make stuffed peppers, but need to kick it up a notch.  So, I scanned the net, and found one from Robert Irvine that sounded interesting.  It was a vegetarian version though, and I wanted MEAT in mine.  So this is what I did.......

New and Improved Stuffed Peppers

6 green bell peppers, tops removed and seeded

1/2 lb. ground beef

1/2 lb. ground pork
1 white onion, diced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
2 teaspoons freshly chopped garlic
1 zucchini, diced
1 yellow squash, diced
2 cups cooked wild rice
1 (14-ounce can) tomatoes, drained
1 cup diced red and green peppers
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup fresh arugula or spinach
2 teaspoons freshly chopped tarragon leaves

Shredded Mozzarella
1/2 cup grated Parmesan, to finish 

 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Wrap the peppers in aluminum foil, and bake in the oven until tender, but not falling apart, about 15 minutes.  If you are out of foil (like I was) put them in a dutch oven with a bit of water in the bottom, fit with a tight lid and bake for about 3 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

In a large skillet over medium heat, add the beef and pork and brown. Then add the onions, mushrooms and garlic and saute until the mushrooms are golden brown. Add in the zucchini, yellow squash, wild rice, tomatoes, red and green peppers and continue to cook until the vegetables are tender. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, to taste, and stir in the tomato paste. Remove from the heat and fold in the fresh arugula or spinach and the fresh herbs. Spoon the vegetable mixture into the cooled peppers. Transfer the peppers to a heat-proof serving dish and top with shredded mozzarella a little Parmesan. Bake until the peppers are heated through, about 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and serve.

Robin's Note: This can be served on a bed of fresh tomato sauce or on its own. Enjoy.

This made too much for just 6 peppers, so I froze what was left for another day.