Crawfish Pie, Crawfish Pie, If I Don't Get Some I Think I'm Gonna Die

How many of you remember the Alligator Pie poem from your childhood? I'm guessing you have to be Canadian to have read it. It started out like this

Alligator pie, alligator pie,
If I don't get some I think I'm gonna die.
Give away the green grass, give away the sky,
But don't give away my alligator pie.

A couple of years ago Stuart McLean (who was integral to Cakes' passing the boyfriend test and ultimately becoming my husband) had Dennis Lee (the author of Alligator Pie) on the Vinyl Cafe reciting his book to music. It was fantastic. I havn't been able to get the words out of my head since making Randy's Crawfish Pie last weekend in New Orleans.

This pie is divine. Randy suggests serving it with a nice green salad and I have to agree. It's pretty rich. Don't judge the filling by the taste of the unbaked mix. The flavour changes significantly once baked. Also, as with puff pastry, I can rarely be bothered to make my own shortcrust. I know how to do it well enough and I find it unchallenging so I tend to use store-bought. I'd much rather spend my time making new and exciting things...like this crawfish pie.

Randy's recipe does not call for blind baking of the crust, but I found that it was difficult to negotiate the pie slices on to the plate with such a soft bottom crust as the filling is quite dense and heavy. Next time I make it I will probably blind bake the crusts first. Also, you'll want to cover the edges of the pies with foil, or pie shields part way through the baking as they will burn otherwise.

Makes 2 pies

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter 2   garlic cloves

• 1 large onion

• 1/4 cup green onions, chopped fine

• 2 ribs celery, chopped fine

• 1 can cream of celery soup, condensed

• 4 tablespoons tomato sauce

• 1 cup parsley, chopped fine

• 1 cup bread crumbs

• 1 tablespoon salt

• 1 teaspoon red chili pepper

• 1 egg, beaten

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

• 1 pound crawfish tails, whole

• 4 9-inch pie crusts (2 tops and 2 bottoms)

Line two pie pans with pastry sheets and trim edges. Prick bottoms with a fork. Set aside.

Saute onions, garlic, pepper and celery until soft. Add soup, tomato sauce, crawfish and parsley. Cook over medium heat for 10 mintues.

Remove from heat add bread crumbs, salt, egg and cream, mixing thoroughly.

Spoon one half of the mixture into each of the two prepared pie pans. Top pies with remaining pastry sheets and cut vents or decorate as you like.

Bake 50-60 minutes in a 350f oven.

Let stand to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Comments

[Ségolène]

What a good idea, this pie. I remember my mother made some pies ang in France it's not a usual recipe;
Thank you.

[Jeaneene Nooney]

Wow, this looks so good. Do you ever make it in little foldover hand pies? When I first came to New Orleans I bought one of these at the CC's on Poydras. Then they quit offering them. How long should I bake a hand-pie?