Although the recipes I write about in this column are usually seasonal and prepared from scratch with fresh ingredients, occasionally (and, I hope, understandably) I get a craving for a dish that is none of those things: a dish made with packaged ingredients that are out of season.
One of those dishes is this Crayfish and Artichoke Stew, which is made with packaged crayfish tails (Louisiana, not Chinese), frozen artichoke hearts, and to top it off, a store-bought Cajun seasoning mix.
I realize that I am straying into Sandra Lee (of fame)territory here, but there are good reasons behind my choices. Take the crayfish tails. Do you really want to make the crayfish boil, drop the live crustaceans in the boil and then spend hours peeling each tail to yield those fingertip-sized pieces of meat?
And as for artichoke hearts, I have to say that I give up. Cleaning artichokes is a lot of work and it’s hard to find good ones in Colorado — artichokes that aren’t old and blackened by frost damage (some marketing whiz has decided to sell these spotted vegetables as ).
Canned artichokes have an unpleasant aftertaste that comes from the citric or ascorbic acid that is used to preserve them, but frozen artichoke hearts have a flavor that is pure and close to the fresh product.
This is a typical Creole recipe: the roots are French (you will find crayfish and artichoke combinations in ) and the use of butter is lavish, as is the use of a multitude of spices.
Serve this stew with rice or with a poached egg on top.
John Broening is a chef at Spuntino and Le Grand Bistro in Denver. E-mail: johnbroening@msn.com.
Crayfish and Artichoke Stew
This dish can be frozen for up to 3 weeks and reheated. Makes about 6 cups.
Ingredients
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, medium dice
1 red pepper, medium dice
2 ribs celery, medium dice
6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 tablespoon Cajun seasoning, such as McCormick’s
1 pound Louisiana crayfish tail meat
2 cups frozen sliced artichoke hearts
1 cup chopped canned tomatoes and their juice
Few shots hot sauce
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt
Directions
In a Dutch oven over medium heat, melt the butter and mix in the yellow onion, red pepper and celery. Cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute, until softened but not colored. Add 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning, crayfish tail meat and the artichoke hearts, and cook 1 minute, stirring well.
Add the canned tomatoes and their juice, turn heat to low-medium and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add the remaining Cajun seasoning, the hot sauce and the lemon juice and cook 1 more minute. Taste for salt and cool until ready to use.
