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It has been blowing 25 to 30 here for several days so I am afraid to say we do not have a fresh catch to cook for dinner tonight. We do however have a ton of frozen Crawfish tails (widely know as Caribbean Spiny Lobster) that we caught about a week ago. For tonights dinner I am preparing a classic Bahamian dish, Minced Crawfish with white rice. Minced Crawfish is rich, flavorful, and spicy. It is a Bahamian comfort food and perfect for a cool, windy night like this one. Mince is a great way to prepare frozen lobster but if these tails were fresh I would keep it simple.
I am preparing dinner for 3 so I'm using 6 tails, 2 per person which should be plenty.
Minced Crawfish
Ingredients:
6 Spiny Lobster Tails (Bahamian Crawfish)
1 medium Onion, minced
1 clove garlic, finely diced
1 sweet pepper minced
1 hot pepper, seeds removed, finely diced )
Tea Spoon of fresh Thyme
1 Bay Leaf
2 slices of Bacon Diced or Salt Pork
2 TBSof Olive Oil
1 6oz Can of Tomato Paste
Tea Spoon salt
Juice of 1 lime
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(Tools: Large Knife, Meat Mallet, Heavy Cutting Board) |
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2. Slide your fingers between the tail meat and shell and remove the meat from the split tail, pulling front to back.
3. Finely dice or mince the lobster meat.
Time to Cook!
(Tools: Large Black Bottom Frying Pan, Wooden Spoon)
In my favorite black bottom pan I fry the 2 slices of bacon in 2 tbs of olive oil, until they are golden brown, then I add the can of tomato paste. On a low heat allow the tomato past to caramelize being careful not to burn it (process takes 2 to 3mins)
Now I add my minced veggies, hot pepper, thyme, bay leaf and salt allowing them to sauté for just a moment and adding my minced crawfish. At this point I turn up the heat a bit to medium and allow my ingredients to cook down and caramelize.
Stir occasionally. Once the ingredients have begun to caramelize, and stick to the bottom of the pan, deglaze by squeezing the Juice of 1 Lime into you pan and stir. Now add a 1/2 cup of Water. Reduce heat, allow to simmer
The cooking process takes 30 to 40 mins in all.
You should begin cooking your rice while you cook the mince so both are hot and ready to serve at the same time.
The Secret to perfect rice every time:
I have been cooking a long time and rarely measure or time any of my dishes. I rely on sight , smell, taste and texture to tell me my dish is ready. This ability has come both with experience and insightful guidance from the great cooks I've learned from. My Mummy, Babs is certainly the person who's taught me the most and she is also the best cook I've come across. Here is an easy trick, for cooking perfect rice every time, that she taught a long time ago:
Whether you are cooking a big pot of rice or just a small pot like I am tonight, the secret to perfect rice every time is...
1. fill your pot about 1/2 way with water (less, perhaps 1/4, if you have a big pot but only want a small portion) Salt the water liberally (you will never get any flavor into your rice if you do not add salt now. Salt facilitates the boiling process.)
Cover your pot and bring the water to a rapid boil at high heat. When the water is at a rapid boil....
2. Pour your rice in a steady even stream into the center of the pot allowing it to pile up like a mountain until you have a small peak of rice rising about a 1/4 inch above the surface of the water. Reduce heat to a very low simmer, cover your pot. Give the pot a little shake to even out the rice and allow the water to cover it. Simmer on a low heat until the rice has absorbed all the water... about 20mins.At this point I uncover the rice and fluff it with a dinner fork using a gentle scooping motion. I add a tablespoon of butter and let it sit uncovered for a few mins.
I made a nice garden salad with garbanzo beans, simply dressed with lime juice, olive oil and fresh oregano.
Dinner is ready...
A Little Lime & Hot Pepper
Mash!
9 comments:
Fantastic Blog! Looking forward to follow your post...Great job! Camy xx
Lol........Bahamians scall their crawfish until they turn an orangey reddish color before doing anything fresh or frozen...its the Bahamian way so if your going to publish a blog on a particular culture you should do a bit more research this article is somewhat misleading
Signed angry Bahamian that knows how to cook and prepare bahamian food
Love your recipe. Thank you very much for posting it.
Thanks good recipe!
Why would you think I am not Bahamian? If you have frozen tails that aren’t that fresh you go a head and scall them but with fresh tails if you fry them down raw, in a cast iron pan, they brown better and you get more flavor. Try it...
Yummy...
Crawfish are normally scalded before mincing in the Bahamas.
Think your recipe sounds nice. However, I'd add more oil or butter n let it simmer low a lil longer? I'm just saying?
Hey. I don't use Bacon or saltpork. Just oil and kerrygold butter? Seems to work out okay?
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