Just weeks before Fat Tuesday this year, the phones were ringing non-stop as crawfish suppliers and restaurants were desperately on the hunt for the mudbugs. But the summer’s extreme heat and drought made this year’s crawfish season the worst ever for the largest crawfish producer in the nation – Louisiana.
Ingredients for Disaster
To appreciate the shortage of crawfish is to understand the challenges of getting them to the tables. Farmers traditionally grow a rice crop in shallow water, providing a habitat for crawfish. As the crustaceans burrow underground, the top of the hole is plugged up with clay, locking in moisture. The heat of last summer was so intense that the hole plugs cracked and the heat dried up the crawfish homes. Without water, the crawfish perish. Crawfish farmers say last summer they lost the water needed to flood the fields – 12 to 18 inches – and keep them flooded deep enough for crawfish to breed and grow. (Under optimal conditions, females can hatch between 400-900 eggs each.)
To make matters worse, the two hard freezes that occurred this past winter kept the crawfish that were alive dormant, and when they don’t move, they don’t eat which stunned their maturity. The ideal temperature for crawfish is about 85 degrees. They can function in the upper 40s, but the colder it is, the less they feed and the less they go to traps. When it warms up, the crawfish eat more and grow faster to a size worth catching.
Healthier Ingredients
Although sucking crawfish heads isn’t advised, from a nutrition standpoint, the rest of the tasty mug bugs are high in protein, low fat, and contain magnesium, Omega-3 fatty acids, iron, phosphorous, Vitamin B3 and zinc. The Louisiana Department of Health reports that these benefits help with autoimmune diseases, healthy muscles, bones and teeth, blood sugar, inflammation, nerves and cardiovascular health.
Buyers Beware: When purchasing crawfish in grocery stores, be sure to read the fine print that says whether the tails are from Louisiana; a Cajun brand name does not necessarily ensure that the product is from here.
Crawfish Casserole
Serves: 6-10
An easy-to-make dish that’s ALWAYS a crowd-pleaser. Shrimp can be substituted for the crawfish tails.
Ingredients
1 stick of butter
1 large onion chopped
¼ cup bell pepper
¼ cup celery
(*Note: 1 cup Guidry’s Creole Seasoning prechopped vegetables can be
substituted for the 3 vegetables.)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup (I USE 2-3” VELVEETA)
¼ cup parmesan cheese
½ can chicken broth (add more if needed. End result before pouring into pan
should be thick but with a little liquid left so it doesn’t dry out in the oven)
1 lb. of crawfish tails
2 cups cooked rice (fluffed)
Season to taste with salt, pepper and Tony’s seasoning (Recommended:
1 tsp
Tony’s, ½ tsp. salt and ½ tsp. pepper- or more to your taste.)
Instructions
Put a ½ stick of butter in a 9 x 13” casserole dish and preheat it at 350 degrees.
Sauté vegetables in butter until clear. Add crawfish and cook until crawfish are almost done. (about 3 minutes). Add remaining ingredients. Add rice as last ingredient and spoon it in until the finalmixture still has a little liquid in it. (Baking dries it a little)
Pour into the preheated, butter dish. Top with breadcrumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. When cooked, you can turn on broiler to brown the bread crumbs a little for toastiness. WATCH CLOSELY SO AS NOT TO BURN THE CRUMBS. (You can skip this part if you are not comfortable with this step.) Let sit for about 5 minutes. Serve with garlic bread and enjoy!
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