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Crawfish Cardinal
Crawfish Cardinal or Cardinale. Either way, this dish gets it’s name from the beautiful bird and it’s color from tomato in the sauce.
This is a favorite Creole recipe from Antoine’s in NOLA. It’s easy to make and you can use leftover crawfish from a boil or begin with uncooked tails.
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Ingredients
ScaleCrawfish Cardinal- 1-1/2 cups bechamel sauce
- 1 TBL butter
- 1/2 cup sliced green onions
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 2–1/2 cups crawfish tails
- 2 egg yolks
- 6 TBL tomato paste
- Sea salt
- Ground white pepper
- Cayenne pepper
- Serve over rice, on toast points or by itself
- Pair with a nice white wine
Bechamel Sauce
- 1–1/2 cups scalded milk (hot, but not boiling)
- 2 TBL butter
- 2 TBL flour
- salt
- ground white pepper
Instructions
Bechamel Sauce Instructions
- Scald the milk just shy of a boil
- Melt the butter and stir in the flour 1 TBL at a time until it becomes slightly foamy
- Whisk in the milk and bring to a boil, then immediately turn down to a simmer
- Season with a pinch salt and white pepper to taste
- Remove from heat and place a pat of butter on top to prevent a film from forming
- Set aside off the heat
Crawfish Cardinal Instructions
- Saute the green onions in butter until limp
- Add the wine and bring to a boil
- Add the crawfish and A) If raw, cook until firm, or B) If already pre-cooked, long enough to heat through
- Whisk the egg yolks into the warm, not hot bechamel
- Stir the bechamel mixture into the cooked crawfish
- Stir in the tomato paste
- Season to taste with salt and cayenne pepper
- Continue to simmer for 5 more minutes
- Taste and adjust final seasoning, turn off the heat and let set for another 5 minutes to let the flavors harmonize
Notes
And just one more thing…
When someone gets word you’re fixin’ to have crawfish you might just hear “Ayeeee, envie”. That means a cajun is happy.
Best crawfish I’ve ever had. The sauce was amazing!
★★★★★