| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 2 hr 5 min |
| Active: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 pound Louisiana crawfish
- 1 heaping tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cup chicken broth or stock
- 2 dried bay leaves
- Cajun Select Seasoning, recipe follows, to taste
- Hot sauce, to taste
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Easy Oven Grits, recipe follows
- 4 Poached Eggs, recipe follows
- 3 tablespoons sliced green onions, for garnish
- 2 tablespoons granulated garlic
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon ground celery seed
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 6 cups chicken stock or broth
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup stone-ground grits
- 1/2 cup heavy cream, warmed
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 4 ounces goat cheese, sliced or crumbled
- 6 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- Pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the celery, onions and bell peppers and saute until the vegetables are softened, 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and stir until combined.
- Add the crawfish and saute for 5 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and stir into the crawfish to make a thick mixture. Pour in the chicken stock and stir to deglaze the pan. Add the bay leaves. Season with Cajun Select Seasoning and hot sauce to taste. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the sauce has thickened, the flavors have developed and the crawfish are tender to the bite (though still firm), about 10 minutes.
- Serve the crawfish over grits with a poached egg. Garnish with green onions.
- Blend together the granulated garlic, paprika, salt, cayenne, onion powder, black pepper, sugar, basil, celery seed and oregano in a bowl until combined. Store in an airtight jar for up to 6 months.
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Add the chicken stock, grits, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper to a 3-quart baking dish and stir to combine. Bake, stirring after 30 minutes, until the grits have thickened and absorbed the stock, about 1 hour.
- Remove the grits from the oven and whisk in the heavy cream, butter and goat cheese to finish and loosen the grits. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.
- Fill a large high-sided skillet halfway with water. Heat over medium heat to a very light simmer and stir in the vinegar and salt.
- Crack an egg into a ramekin. Use a spoon to stir the water to create a whirlpool then drop the egg right into the center of the skillet. Cook until the whites have set and the yolks are still runny, 4 to 5 minutes, then remove using a slotted spoon, letting the water drain off. Repeat with remaining eggs.
Reviews
Worth the effort!
FABULOUS! Made this for dinner last night (sans poached egg), and it was delicious. This is definitely a new favorite. Our grits took a little longer to cook in the oven (using Trader Joe’s Stone Ground White Grits), but everything else was spot on. Love the Cajun Aces!
I have been wanting to learn how to make this recipe for a long time but just could not make it the way other could. Watched this episode and decided to give it a try and it came out perfectly. I will never cook grits on the stovetop ever again. Also, I have a picky child, he really doesn’t like seafood but when he saw that I wasn’t cooking anything else tried it and has asked me to cook this dish 3 times since seeing the show.
I live in NC and could not find crawfish tails so I used shrimp and it was really delicious! Thank you for sharing and I will be trying the shrimp and corn soup this evening!
Adrienne Davenport
Made this with my 12 year old daughter, it turn out fantastic! Grits in the oven, genius! So good!
I made this dish and it was AWESOME! Baking grits is the best way ever!!!!