This post features one a family favorite recipe, Cajun Meat Pies!
My family had a camp on the Calcasieu River growing up. We cooked many family-style feasts on the river. The extended family was always welcome and visited often. Some of my favorite memories on the river are when we would host a crawfish boil.
I have two go-to recipes for pot luck crawfish boils that are a hit every time.
Paw Paw would stir in all kinds of spices in his pot and get it to a rolling boil. He’d stir crawfish into boiling lemons, onions, and garlic cloves with a boat oar. Oh, Dad would help. But just after spreading the pounds of boiled crawfish out on the newspaper-covered picnic table, Dad would go inside and fix himself a large bologna sandwich. Dad is not a fan of eating boiled crawfish and never was.
It seems there is a crawfish boil to attend just about every weekend in Fort Bend County. People add in all kinds of vegetables in addition to corn and potatoes these days. You can find Brussel sprouts, artichokes, green beans, heads of garlic, and even mushrooms mixed in with boiled mudbugs. Some people add sausage or butter. Adding in fats or oils has the seasonings soak deeper into the crawfish meat, claws and tails.
Attending one of these boils usually means you bring a dish. After all, not everyone is a fan of boiled crawfish. The request is usually for a dessert or an appetizer. I have two go-to recipes for pot luck crawfish boils that are a hit every time. And both of these dishes well surpass the elegance of a bologna sandwich.
For an appetizer, I bring my Cajun Meat Pies. I use canned biscuit dough for a short cut. It saves time if you have a second pair of hands to help with rolling out the dough or filling the pies. Each pie is a treat all on its own. Your friends will thank you.
Then for my dessert, I draw inspiration from New Orleans with my Banana Foster Gooey Bars. This is one of my most requested recipes. The pan typically disappears within fifteen minutes. This dish will make you look like the Betty Crocker of the party.
Cajun Meat Pies
1 pound(s) of ground beef
1 pound(s) of ground pork
1 tsp. of cayenne pepper
1 medium yellow onion finely diced
1 medium bell pepper finely diced
1 bunch green onions chopped and separated
3 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
2 cans 8 ct. jumbo buttermilk biscuits
8 oz. cream cheese
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup(s) of flour for dusting
Preheat oven to 375. Put beef and pork in a large skillet on medium to high heat. Add cayenne and salt and pepper to taste. Brown meat while mixing in the seasonings and breaking down the meat into small crumbles. Remove browned meat from the skillet reserving the fat in the bottom of the skillet
Add yellow onions, bell pepper, and green onion tops (the white part) to the fat and sauté.
Once the onion becomes transparent and a little caramelized, add meat, garlic, and cream cheese. Stir to combine. Remove skillet from heat and add the green onion bottoms mixing thoroughly. Flour a rolling surface and rolling pin to roll out your biscuits. Cut biscuits in half and reshape into circles. Roll out biscuits to a 3 to 4-inch diameter. Place 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup meat mixture in the middle of the rolled biscuit. Brush egg yolk on the outer edge of half the biscuit to seal the dough. Fold biscuit in half over mixture stretching the biscuit to have the edges meet. Press down around the edges of your pie with your fingers to create a seal. Place meat pie on a sheet pan. Bake at 375 for 10 - 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Banana Foster Gooey Bars
Crust
Yellowcake mix
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
Banana Foster filling
¼ cup butter
4 ripe bananas peeled and sliced
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. banana extract or rum extract
Topping
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
¾ tsp. vanilla extract
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
½ cup light brown sugar
1 tbsp. cinnamon sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch pan. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, melted butter, and 1 egg until smooth. Spread evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Melt butter and brown sugar in a skillet. Add bananas in a single layer and sauté, turning once, until tender, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with cinnamon and stir in banana or rum extract. Spread bananas foster evenly over the top of the crust. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Beat in sweetened condensed milk and remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar together until smooth. Spread over the top of the Bananas Foster filling. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 45-55 minutes until the center is set.
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