Best Crawfish Stuffing Recipes

BREAD STUFFING WITH CRAWFISH, BACON, AND COLLARD GREENS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F. Cut bottom crust and short ends off bread; discard. Cut remaining bread with crust into 1-inch cubes (about 10 cups loosely packed). Place in very large bowl. Add oil, thyme, and garlic; toss. Spread cubes out on large rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until golden and slightly crunchy, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes. Return to same very large bowl.
• Melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add next 3 ingredients. sauté until soft, about 10 minutes. Add crawfish; sauté 2 minutes. Transfer to medium bowl. sauté bacon in same skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to bowl with vegetables. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon bacon fat from skillet. Add greens and 1 cup broth. Cover and simmer until greens are almost tender, about 5 minutes. Add greens and broth in skillet to vegetable mixture. Add parsley. DO AHEAD Bread cubes and vegetable mixture can be made 1 day ahead. Cover separately. Store bread at room temperature. Chill vegetable mixture.
• Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Stir vegetable mixture into bread. Add remaining 3/4 cup broth; toss. Transfer to prepared dish. Cover with buttered foil, buttered side down. Bake until heated through, 25 minutes. Uncover; bake until top starts to brown, 25 minutes longer.

CRAWFISH STUFFING

Steps:

• Chop crawfish or shrimp.
• Moisten crumbs with milk; add onion, flour, stock, parsley, salt and pepper.
• Simmer a few minutes; add crumbs and simmer two minutes.
• Let cool slightly and add egg.

CHICKEN BREAST WITH CRAWFISH STUFFING AND QUESO PANELA SAUCE

Steps:

• For the chicken: Melt butter over medium heat in a medium saute pan. Add crawfish and season with salt and pepper. Saute until they begin to turn opaque. Deglaze pan with the brandy and allow most of the liquid to evaporate. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in shrimp paste, mayonnaise, queso panela, Parmesan and bread crumbs. Lay chicken breasts out, spoon 2 tablespoons of the mixture onto each chicken breast and fold to enclose stuffing. Secure with toothpicks. Dip each stuffed chicken breast into egg mixture and roll in seasoned flour.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Heat grapeseed oil over medium heat in an ovenproof skillet. Sear chicken, leaving each side undisturbed for the first few minutes to let the flour integrate into the surface of the chicken and to prevent crusting off. Transfer pan to oven and bake until chicken is fork tender, about 35 minutes.
• For the sauce: Bring chicken stock, cloves, nutmeg, and bay leaf to a simmer in a small saucepan. In a separate small saucepan saute the shallot in butter over medium heat until it turns translucent. Add flour to make a roux. Whisk in brandy and let cook for about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in the chicken stock mixture and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for about 15 minutes to let flavors integrate and to thicken.
• For the salsa: Heat salsa and add arrowroot to thicken.
• Remove toothpicks from stuffed chicken and place in center of serving plate. Spoon about 1 tablespoon sauce over each chicken breast and top with salsa.