I had the pleasure of teaching this yummy appetizer in my Cooking Class  last night at The New Orleans Cooking Experience.  It was such a big hit that I wanted to share it with you here!

CRAWFISH PIE or

Individual Turnovers

Chiqui Collier

• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, minced
• 1 cup green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup celery, minced
• 1/4 cup green bell pepper, minced
• 1 teaspoon Chef Paul’s Seafood Magic (or more to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 pound cooked Louisiana crawfish tail meat, coarsely chopped
• 1 teaspoon Crystal hot sauce
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 cup heavy cream or half & half
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tablespoons bread crumbs
• Two 9-inch pie crusts, buttered or puff pastry sheets

Heat oven to 375°F.

Melt butter in a large skillet. Sauté onions, green onions, celery, bell pepper, Creole seasoning and salt over medium heat. Stir occasionally until vegetables begin to wilt, about four minutes. Add flour and mix well; cook 1-2 minutes to remove raw flour taste. Remove from heat and stir in the crawfish. Add garlic, return to the heat, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the hot sauce, Worcestershire and green onions and cook 2 minutes more. Stir in the cream. Remove from heat then stir in the bread crumbs.

FOR PIE: Fit a 9” piecrust into a glass pie pan. Fill with cooled Crawfish Filling and top with a second crust. Crimp the edges and lightly brush with a little egg wash (one whole egg beaten with one tablespoon water). Bake at 375 degrees for 35-45 minutes, or until the crust is lightly browned. Yields 8 wedges.

For Turnovers: Defrost package of Pepperidge Farm puff pastry in refrigerator.   Place one sheet at a time on a floured surface and roll out just a bit. Cut each sheet of the pastry into 9 equal portions.   Repeat with second sheet of pastry.  Cool the crawfish filling completely. Place one half of the crawfish filling into a bowl and stir in  3/4 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese and blend well; let cool completely.   Place  one tablespoon of this mixture onto squares of puff pastry, brush edges with beaten egg wash (one whole egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water) and fold over to form a turnover triangle, stretching slightly to cover the filling.  Using the tines of a fork, crimp the edges to seal the turnovers. Brush each turnover with more egg wash and season with fresh cracked pepper and Creole Seasoning if desired. Place on a cookie sheet lined with Parchment paper.   Chill for at least 15 minutes or an hour if possible. Bake at 375*until the pastry puffs and turns a deep golden brown. Approx. 15 minutes.

To the reserved crawfish filling in the  pan, stir in 1/2  cup  of water or stock and heat thoroughly.  To serve the Turnovers, place a baked turnover on a salad plate. Top with a tablespoon  of the sauce and a bit of fresh chopped parsley. Serve immediately. Yields 12 pastries.

These can successfully be made ahead of time and frozen until ready to bake.  Just remove from the freezer about 30 minutes before baking and proceed with baking directions above.  These can be frozen up to 3 months.

Until next time……Bon Appetit,

Chiqui