Fit Fare

I had the good fortune to visit Louisiana last week to attend my sister’s wedding in the French Quarter and spend some quality time in my home state. Whenever I visit I manage a five pound weight gain in less than a week. There is this compulsive desire to eat every dish I have been craving since my last visit, especially crawfish. I have yet to find a source for crawfish on Long Island (frozen Chinese crawfish does not count).

My fondness for crawfish continues to increase the longer I remain away from Louisiana. During this visit we ate crawfish macque choux, crawfish gumbo, crawfish salad, a crawfish boat (creamed spinach with crawfish served in a hollowed out round bread loaf) and crawfish etouffee. At a music festival in Lafayette, Festival International de Louisiane, I missed out on the crawfish tamales — they ran out before I ordered mine. Fortunately, the restaurant we went to for dinner that night, Prejean’s, served crawfish enchiladas and my sister ordered this dish for us to try.

We even went on a swamp tour of Bayou Sorrel and learned how to net our own crawfish. I managed to bring home three pounds of Louisiana crawfish (purchased at the supermarket) and this week I experimented with reduced-fat crawfish etouffee recipes. I created one I’d like to share, but must admit that a traditional etouffee (made with lots of butter) must be tried at least once in your lifetime.

2 Tbsp heart healthy margarine, such as Smart Balance
1 lb Louisiana crawfish tails
1 tsp Creole seasoning, such as Tony Chachere’s (more or less to taste)
1 onion, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp corn starch
1 c cold water
2 Tbsp green onions, chopped

Season crawfish tails with Creole seasoning. Melt margarine in heavy sauce pan and saute crawfish for 3 minutes. Remove crawfish from pot with a slotted spoon into a bowl. Add onions, bell peppers and garlic to pan and saute for 10 minutes. Add back crawfish to the vegetable mixture. Dissolve cornstarch in cold water. Stir into pan with crawfish and vegetables and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Adjust seasoning to taste. Serve over rice and garnish with green onions.