ArkansasRazorback

WOO PIG SOOIE!
I just had to get that out of the waySmile.  Our first Razorback game of the season is this Saturday.  Everybody is so excited about the potential for this year’s team.
Now…
wednesdaymenu-1-1
   I’m a cookbook collector.  I read cookbooks like many people read novels.  Crazy, huh? 

   I have been trying to trim my collection down over the past year, but it’s hard.  It’s sorta’ like going through your child’s school and art work.  What’s not to love about each piece?But there comes a time…

One cookbook that I will definitely hold onto is The Arkansas Classic Country Cookbook by Ruth Moore Malone and Bess Malone Lankford.  No, it’s not a James Beard award winner, but it reminds me so much of the growing-up times with my grandmothers.  They were both excellent cooks, but I don’t think either one ever used or even owned a cookbook.  They knew how to make do and did so with fresh and flavorful bounty available to them from the fields, the woods and the streams.  They also knew how to use the lard, the bacon fat and the salt!arkansas classic country cookbook
One of the recipes from this book is for Crawfish Soup.  Yep, we eat crawfish (AKA crawdads, mudpuppies, ditch dwellers) at our house.  Granted, these are farm raised, harvested and cooked…there’s only so much I’m willing to harken back to the “good old days.” 

This soup is hearty and not so light, but it is good.  I have indicated a few of the changes I have made to Malone and Lankford’s original recipe in italics.  I hope you’ll give this a try.

 
In case you were wondering what a crawfish was….

crawfosj


Go Hogs Cream of Crawfish Soup
2 1/2 cups cooked crawfish
4 cups milk
I used 2 cups Half and Half and 2 cups 2% milk. 4 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour
1 pint heavy cream
Salt and pepper
2 Tablespoons sherry (optional) 1 to 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
dash Worchestershire
dash Tabasco
2-3 green onions, finely chopped


Shred crawfish(chop in food processor) and combine with milk in a double boiler. Add red pepper flakes, Worchestershire, Tabasco, and green onions.  Simmer for 30 minutes.
Melt butter in a large saucepan (bring out the microwave), stir in flour, then cream.  Cook while stirring until thickened.  Remove crawfish and milk from heat and stir into cream mixture a little at a time so that it does not curdle.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add sherry just before serving.  I seldom add the sherry just because I don’t usually have it on hand.  While it adds a notch of flavor, it isn’t essential.

Serves 8 to 10.

Thanks for joining me today for this week’s edition of What’s On the Menu Wednesday. I sure am glad that you choose to spend part of your day with me.

Linked to:
Mouthwatering Mondays
Menu Plan Monday
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Tuesdays At the Table
Full Plate Thursday
Time Out Tuesday

There was a fluke in this past Wednesday’s posting.  For those of you who came looking, I apologize and hope that you will link up this week.