Crawfish and Corn Chowder

My grandmother made the best corn and crawfish chowder, period!  Many times I sat at her kitchen table peeling Belle River crawfish, pulling husks and silk from the freshly picked corn. She would then remove the kernels from the cobs and the secret to her tasty recipe was revealed. She would boil the corn cobs with the crawfish heads in a large pot, seasoned with a little crab boil, yellow onions, celery, garlic and one hot pepper. This amazing aroma wafted through her house! She would strain this succulent stock through an old bent up strainer…so many memories.  I am now taking the liberty of trying to re-create one of her most special dishes, only I am using store bought seafood stock.

1 lb. crawfish tails with fat

3 cups fresh kernel corn

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup diced celery

1 cup chopped green bell pepper

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1-1/2 cups cubes russet potatoes

¼ cup all-purpose flour

6 cups seafood stock

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ cup heavy cream

1 can (10 ounce) Original Rotel

Sea Salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Chopped chives (optional)

In a large pot, melt butter. Add onions, celery, bell pepper and garlic and sauté until onions are transparent, about 3-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add the corn to the pot and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often.  Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir constantly for 3 minutes.  Add the seafood stock and potatoes, stir to thoroughly combine, season with the cayenne pepper.  Simmer for about 20 minutes to soften the potatoes. Add crawfish tails, crawfish fat and heavy cream and Rotel tomatoes, simmer for another 10 minutes, just to heat the crawfish tails through. Garnish with the chives and adjust seasonings if necessary.

 Make your own chowder memories tonight!

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