Crawfish Boil Recipe for Success.

Here are a few tips on how I would do a crawfish boil.  There is no correct way to make it, as everyone has “the best” recipe.  But the main goal is to enjoy a few cold beverages with friends over a communal pot of crawfish.  And remember, it’s just a Cajun court bouillon.

Vegetables

New Potatoes, Cob Corn, Sausage, Garlic, Lemons, Mushrooms

Seasonings

Zatarans or Rex Crawfish Boil (Follow directions on the box for measurments)

Crawfish

Down here we figure ten pounds per guest, but for Georgia, probably three to five.

Bring water to boil, add seasonings, lemons, and garlic.  Let go for twenty minutes until well incorporated.  Add potatoes, the mushrooms, then sausage, then corn and cook.  By the time the corn is done, the potatoes should be finished.  Remove all the vegetables, bring back to boil.  Add crawfish, bring to rolling boil, and shut off.  Ice down the container, or if outside use a hose, not completely cold, but slow down the heat.  Start tasting crawfish for desired taste around 45 minutes, or before, whenever you think they’re ready.  Dump them on newspaper, serve vegetables with some butter, and wash it all down with conversation and a few cold Hi-Lifes.

Cheers.

Roasted Heirloom Squash

Recently at the Hollygrove Market there has been an abundance of both passion and heirloom squash.  Passion is an uncultivated emotion for purity, and heirloom squash are honestly cultivated vegetables.  What does heirloom mean?  It seems to be a debated upon topic, but at then end of the day, the seeds of the vegetable are old.  Here are two ways to cook the squash, heirloom or not, it's about technique.

Roasted Squash

PREP
Cut the squash to about the same size, keeping in mind uniform size allows the vegetables to all cook at the same rate.  Smaller vegetables cook faster than larger vegetables.  Toss with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, chopped garlic, and fresh thyme.  The thyme doesn't necessarily have to be picked, just remember to remove them in the end, no one I know likes to eat bark, except of course for cinnamon, but that is a story for another day.

COOK
Heat oven to 400F.  Place all of the squash on a sheet pan and place in the oven.  Depending on size the cooking times will vary, but for the squash pictured roasting time should be around ten minutes.  Just look at them, brown colorization is the key to roasting, otherwise it is just baking.  When the kitchen smells amazing the squash are done.

Saute Squash

PREP
As noted above, cut the squash into similar size pieces.  Do not salt the squash before cooking.  Season with pepper or any other spice based on desired flavor profile.

COOK
Heat oil in skillet over medium heat until the oil begins to shimmer (waves).  Test oil with one squash, if it sizzles, it's ready.  Do not overcrowd the pan, or the result will be steamed squash instead of saute squash.  Flip or toss and season with salt and chopped garlic

And if you make a mistake, make sure it only happens once.  The best way to learn how to cook is trial and error, and in the beginning there is more error than trial...No Worries.