Crawfish Pie

Adapted from a recipe by Carmen Montegut in “Talk About Good!” by the Junior League of Lafayette, Louisiana (Favorite Recipes Press, 1969 edition) There are several recipes for crawfish pie filling in the Junior League of Lafayette’s popular “Talk About Good!” cookbook, but this one comes highly recommended. It does take a bit of time, so be patient.

The filling can be served over rice, étouffée-style, if desired.

Make ahead: The dough needs to rest at room temperature for a total of 1½ hours. It can be divided into quarters, wrapped individually and frozen for up to 6 months. Leftover filling can be refrigerated up to 3 days.

Makes 6 to 12 servings (makes enough dough for 2 double-crust pies and enough filling for 2 pies)

CRUST

4 cups sifted flour, plus more for rolling

2 teaspoons salt heaping tablespoons vegetable shortening, plus more as needed

1¹⁄3 cups cold water, or more as needed

FILLING

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

½ cup flour

2 cloves garlic

1 medium onion, cut into small dice

2 bunches scallions, chopped (white and lightgreen parts, reserve and chop dark-green parts) green bell pepper, seeded and cut into small dice cup diced celery tablespoons tomato sauce

Salt Freshly ground black pepper

Ground cayenne pepper

3 cups water, or more as needed

3 pounds cooked, frozen/ defrosted crawfish tails tablespoons cornstarch mixed with just enough water to form a creamy consistency (slurry; optional)

1 bunch parsley, chopped

Instructions for the crust:

Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Use a pastry cutter or two forks to cut in the 4 tablespoons of shortening. Gradually add the water to form a dough that holds together. Flour a work surface.

Roll out the dough there into a large rectangle. Coat lightly with shortening, then sift a light dusting of flour over the shortening. Fold in the sides, one and then the other so that they touch each other at the center.

Grease the new surfaces lightly with shortening and dust with sifted flour. Cover loosely and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Roll out, fold, grease and dust with sifted flour two more times, with 30-minute rests in between each one.

Divide the dough into 4 equal portions; wrap and freeze half of them. You’ll need two portions of dough for this pie. Roll out 1 portion of dough to an 11-inch round, on the flourdusted surface, then gently transfer it to a 9-inch pie plate and fit it in all the way around, crimping the edge decoratively. The crust can be wrapped and refrigerated until ready to use (up to 1 day in advance). Wrap and refrigerate the remaining portion of dough.

For the filling: Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Stir in the flour; cook long enough for it to lightly brown (this is a roux). Add the garlic, onion, chopped scallions, green bell pepper, celery and tomato sauce. Season well with salt, black pepper and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

Cover and cook for about 1 hour, stirring frequently to keep the vegetables from sticking. Add the water and cook, uncovered, for several hours. If the mixture thickens too much, add more water; the mixture should be creamy and thick.

Stir in the crawfish tails; cook for 5 minutes, or just until tails are tender. If mixture becomes thin, you can thicken it by stirring in the cornstarch slurry, if using, and cooking for a few extra minutes. Add the chopped, dark-green scallion tops and the parsley. Taste and season with more salt and/or black pepper, as needed. Let cool for a bit. Reserve half the filling for another use. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a fork to dock several holes in the bottom pie dough crust. Flour the work surface again, as needed, and roll out the other portion of dough to an 11-inch round. Pour the remaining filling into bottom crust.

Cover with the rolled-out top crust, crimping the edges to seal in a decorative fashion. Cut slits in the top crust. Place the pie on a baking sheet and bake (middle rack) for about 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 300 degrees; bake for 15 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Nutrition per serving (based on 6, using half the dough and half the filling’): 440 calories, 22 g protein, 39 g carbohydrates, 21 g fat, 11 g saturated fat, 160 mg cholesterol, 550 mg sodium, 2 g dietary fiber, 1 g sugar