Crayfish for dinner!!!

wazza_shellz, May 24, 11:25pm
I have got two crayfish for dinner tonight. Not to sure what else to have with it, any ideas?
buzzy110, May 25, 12:08am
As a diver who has regular injections of this delicious crustacean I have developed some pretty set 'course rules' for eating crayfish.

IMO (and I mean only in my opinion), nothing goes with crayfish, no matter what recipe you use unless it is steamed or boiled, shelled out and mixed into a salad. I prefer green salads but I have friends I have donated crayfish to who put it into potato or pasta salads - total eeeww IMO.

However, if you are eating it hot, especially if you are serving it in the shell, I suggest you eat it as a separate course on its own. Make special vegetables and serve them as a separate course like the french do.
kvb, May 25, 12:14am
If fresh - just on its own ... ... . . if it has been frozen, then my preference is for crayfish mornay
buzzy110, May 25, 12:17am
For the vegetable course you might look at something like cauliflower baked in cream with grated cheese on top, Fresh green beans, pre blanched then baked, in olive oil, torn basil leaves and quartered or baby tomatoes, baked potato, baked whole cloves of garlic and a medley of lightly steamed carrots, celery, pickling onions and red capsicum chunks sprinkled with fine chopped coriander or Italian parsley.

You could also brown some whole baby mushrooms in copious quantities of butter and pour over the vegetables when you serve them.

If you wanted to go to a whole lot of trouble you could stuff your baked potato. fisher gave a great recipe for this in the potato thread yesterday.

Or you could make scalloped potatoes using cheese and milk or cream but that would be a bit repetitive if you also did the cauliflower how I suggested.
fisher, May 25, 2:27am
buzzy. . as you say its hard to think what goes best with crayfish. . especially a fresh one apart from the proverbial green salad ... mornay style with frozen if you must :}}
Then of course you get the purist who only thinks it should be boiled of grilled on BBQ and eaten warm with black pepper. . As a diver, you soon get sick of eating it the way the purist think it should be eaten and look for new inspiration. .
Deep Fried Crayfish. .
Kill your crayfish and remove tail. . slice down the middle and remove vein. . chop meat up into 3 square cm squares. . make a tempura batter and dip cray pieces into batter and deep fry until golden in HOT oil... DON'T OVERCOOK! ! !
Serve on a bed of turmeric and pea rice with sliced tomato wedges that have basil, black pepper and rock salt sprinkled over. .
Cook/boil the rest of the cray and serve as legs etc as a garnish to each plate. . You can crumb larger tail pieces as you do schnitzel if you wish. . and serve as per above. .
You can also remove the tail and slice down the middle. Using scissors cut the tail in half and remove vein. . This whole half tail can be battered and deep fried in HOT oil. .
fisher, May 25, 2:39am
Crayfish on BBQ
Slice your uncooked fresh crayfish in half length ways. Clean up for BBQ. Squeeze juice of half a lemon in each half shell.
With softened butter, mix 5 cloves of garlic and a cup of fresh chopped parsley till it forms a soft paste. Mix in a little lime zest.
Sprinkle with olive oil and place meat side down on BBQ hotplate for 2 mins only. Turn over , more lemon juice and spread on all parsley butter.
A little ground black pepper... Place a cover over the top of the cray halves... The butter will bubble and melt... Don't over cook.
fisher, May 25, 2:42am
Gourmet Crayfish
Ingredients:
2 crayfish. . 20 fresh asparagus spears. . 1 papaya . . 200g butter. . 2 sprigs parsley. . salt / peppe. . r20ml brandy. . 1/4 cup desiccated coconut. .
Method:. .
Prepare the papaya by slicing and de-piping it... Place in a small bowl and steep through with brandy...
Blanch asparagus in a large pot of heavily salted boiling water... Blanch till softened but still firm, then remove immediately and cool in iced water... .
Keep the pot boiling on the stove, drop the crayfish in, cover and cook. Break off all the legs and after tailing them slice into rounds. Wash out the pot. Add the butter and melt it over a low heat.
Add the asparagus to warm through the butter. When well coated with butter, add the cray slices for a minute...
Remove allfrom the pot and arrange the asparagus on a serving dish and then layer the cray slices over the asparagus...
Surround with the papaya and cray legs and finally drizzle the remaining butter over the crayfish...
Garnish with a touch of parsley and finish the papaya with a liberal sprinkling of desiccated coconut... .
buzzy110, May 25, 3:00am
I've tried it raw, Nobody but me was very keen though. As I will eat any seafood, other than paua but including seaweeds, raw, it is not such a huge leap to eat raw crayfish.

You can also marinate it in lemon juice and then do in any number of ways that marinated fish can be served. Sadly this delicacy doesn't go down too well either. Personally I quite like mine marinated with kina roe added at the end but as I have intimated I have unusual tastes.
fisher, May 25, 3:55am
Crayfish Mornay and Thermidor
Ingredients:
50g butter/margarine. . 3/4 cup flour. . 1/2 cup grated tasty cheese. . paprika or fresh parsley . . 2 cups milk. . 1 uncooked crayfish
Method:
Lay on back and split evenly down the middle. Remove meat from tail sections, keeping shell intact, and dice in to bite size pieces. Place empty cleaned crayfish shell halves into preheated oven (250° C) for approx 5 minutes or until shell has turned pink.
Remove and set aside. Sauté crayfish pieces in a little butter in pan for approx 2 - 4 minutes until 2/3rds cooked.
Remove and set aside... Melt butter in saucepan and stir in flour. Slowly add milk, stirring all the time over heat making sure it does not become lumpy, until you obtain a smooth sauce. Add cheese and stir through. Add cooked crayfish pieces and stir through sauce... .
Spoon Crayfish and Sauce back in to Crayfish shells. Sprinkle paprika and/or freshly chopped parsley over top of sauce.
Now place under grill for 3-5 minutes or until nicely browned and heated through... .
Crayfish Thermidor:simply add 1 tsp of dijon or wholegrain mustard to prepared sauce as above...
bedazzledjewels, May 25, 4:33am
Where do you live Wazza - and I'll be on the way! How delicious and lucky you!
beaker59, Jun 6, 8:18pm
I seem to have never been in the situation where I have suffered from surplus of crayfish so prefer to cook and eat on its own. One thing that served me well when single ;) was to get cray bodies cheap from seamart and make a crayfish chowder got me lucky a few times did that recipe. Can't seem to find it my new wife must have "lost" it.