Tilapia with Crawfish Champagne Cream Sauce

Our friends the Hebert's are Houston "transplants" from Lake Charles, LA. Just this weekend they opened a crawfish to go store, Hebert's Hot Tails. I went by on Sunday and bought 10 pounds of crawfish. Ryan was on his way back from New Hampshire and I thought it would be a good dinner for us. Since Ryan got home so late, we didn't eat as much as we normally would so I had a good 3 or 4 pounds leftover. I really wanted to find something to use the leftovers in other than gumbo or etouffee so I thought some sort of cream sauce over fish would be yummy.

I asked for some suggestions on a local message board that I participate in and one of the girls suggested this Champagne Cream Sauce adapted from one by Emeril Lagasse. As she notes, champagne, cream and butter are a perfect combination.

Crawfish Champagne Cream Sauce
adapted from Emeril Lagasse

1/4 cup chopped shallots
1/2 cup Champagne
3/4 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Champagne vinegar
1/2 cup cooked crawfish, peeled

In a saucepan, combine the shallots and Champagne. Bring to a boil and cook until almost all liquid evaporates, about 6 minutes.

Add the heavy cream, bring to a boil and simmer until cream thickens and coats the back of a spoon, and is reduced by nearly 50 percent in volume, about 3 minutes.
Whisk in the butter until smooth and strain the sauce through a fine mesh strainer, pressing on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible.

Add Crawfish. Season, to taste, with salt, pepper, and vinegar and serve immediately over fish or shellfish.

Note: If sauce is made in advance, keep warm in a bain marie over barely simmering water. I used a "homemade" double boiler to keep it warm while I waited for the potatoes to cook.

For the fish, I used the Sauteed Fish recipe minus the cajun seasoning, then topped with the crawfish cream sauce.

Sauteed Fish

This recipe is another one I got from the girls in the recipe group. Until now, I had two ways I knew to cook fish. Natalie sent this recipe out recently so I was excited to try it.


Sauteed Trout
from Junior League of Lake Charles Cookbook

Speckled Trout or Redfish filets (I used Tilapia)
Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning to taste
1 cup milk
2 eggs
Italian-style bread crumbs
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Season the fish generously with creole seasoning.
Whisk the milk and eggs in a shallow dish.
Coat the seasoned filets in bread crumbs. Coat in the egg mixture and then coat in bread crumbs again.
Heat the butter and olive oil in a large heavy non-stick skillet over medium-heat.
Add the filets in a single layer.

Cook 3-4 minutes per side or until the fish flakes easily; do not overcook.

This was a really good meal. I don't LOVE fish but I really liked it cooked like this. It felt healthier than my normal "fried" fish.

Fish, Fish and MORE Fish!

Ryan takes a fishing trip each year with Amegy Mortgage. The travel to Hackberry, Louisiana and stay at a "resort" called Hackberry Rod & Gun. The guys go out in pairs with a guide on a salt water lake called Lake Calcasieu. Ryan's first couple of years, he didn't come home with too much fish. Maybe a couple of bags. Last year the tide turned for Ryan, and his buddy Ryan from Amegy, and he came home with more fish than we knew what to do with--Redfish, Trout, and Flounder. This year was no different. I think they caught even more than last year.

The freezer is running over with fish! I will not be buying fish for some time. We bagged and froze the fish in two person servings--30 bags! Our freezer is STUFFED!

And there is more in the door! We have already eaten fish 3 or 4 times in the past two weeks. We are also giving away fish to any and everyone who wants some! Come and get it!

Stay tuned for posts about how I actually cooked the fish!