Distinctly Montana Magazine

d i s t i n c t ly m o n ta n a • s p r i n g 2 0 1 4 40 Catch more crawdad info and other recipes www.distinctlymontana.com/crawdad142 DISTINCTLY MONTANA | DIGITAL CraWDaD aND SMokED vENISoN Hot BEEr SauSagE pot pIE This is my Montana take on a Cajun classic, crawfish pie 4 – tablespoons of butter 1 – cup chopped yellow onions 1 – cup small diced celery 1 – cup small diced green bell pepper 2 – heaping tablespoons flour or corn starch 1 – cup chopped tomatoes ½ – teaspoon cayenne pepper or more or less as you like 2 – cups of crawdad tail meat 2 – cups of smoked venison hot beer sausage sliced thin. (you can substitute any well-seasoned sausage) ½ – cup chopped green onion tops Pie crust for the top Melt the butter in a fry pan then add the chopped onions, bell peppers, and celery and stir until they are soft. Then add the salt and cayenne pepper and stir while simmer- ing for a couple of minutes. Mix the flour or corn starch with a little water in a separate container and mix thoroughly until smooth, then add to the pan along with the crawdad meat, sausage and the tomatoes. Pour into your pot(s), cover with a pie crust and bake at 375 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes. to HarvESt tHE taIL MEat 1. Wash off the live crawdads with a hose, then put in a tub of salted water for a couple of hours, then dump out the water, and repeat a time or two until the water is very clean. Discard any that are dead prior to cooking. 2. To cook, drop the live crawdads in boiling water for three or four minutes. 3. Remove the tail meat by breaking the tail away from the body and with your thumb remove the first couple of rings of shell then pinching just above the tail fins and gently pull on the meat. After you've done a half dozen you'll be an expert. if you have a lot of patience you can harvest good meat from the large claws as well. CraWDaD FrIttErS in Louisiana they would be called beignets, but we have added some corn and call them fritters. 1 – heaping cup of crawdad tail meat 1 – cup flour ½ – cup yellow cornmeal 1 – cup canned creamed corn 1 – egg 2 – tablespoons canola oil 1 – teaspoon salt 2 – teaspoons sugar Milk to make a stiff batter Finely chopped jalapeno pepper to your taste Mix all ingredients together except the crawdad meat. When you get a smooth thick natter then gently fold in the crawdad tails. Drop large tablespoon of batter into 350 degree vegetable oil and turn until golden brown on all sides then remove and drain on paper towels. Garnish with chopped scallion tops. DiPPing sauCe 2/3 part mayo and 1/3 part ketchup, a little lemon juice and cayenne pepper powder to your taste. With a homemade trap or a commercial one, these morsels are easy to catch. Just toss your trap out late in the day and pull it in the next mid-morning.

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