My dog peed on my bedspread tonight which drove me to eating a cookie.
Now that I have that off my chest I want to introduce you to one of my FAVORITE appetizers of all time. This appetizer is great for several reasons which I will now list:
1. It is full of creamy, seafood deliciousness.
2. It is presented in cute, little, bite size phyllo tartlets.
3. It’s versatile, I like it best with crawfish but oysters are also delicious and I think shrimp would be out of this world!
4. It is my Nana Dinkel’s recipe and reminds me of her and the holidays. She is 80 and still cooks them for all to enjoy.
5. This one recipe will make enough for you to host your own party and you will have plenty to bring to subsequent parties that your friends invite you to.
6. They are so good that as soon as they come out of the oven you have to pop one in your mouth even though you know as soon as you bite down it will burn your entire mouth and you will not be able to taste anything the rest of the day. That one bite is worth the pain and the goofy face we all make when our mouth is melting..
There are more but I think 6 reasons is a fairly convincing number and just wait til you see the little delights.
I hope you and your guests will enjoy this great appetizer for years and years to come.
The players: butter, cream cheese, sour cream…Yikes, I just gained 3 lbs from typing that, definitely reserve these for special occasions!
The Athens Phyllo cups you see in the back of the picture are usually easily found in the freezer section at your grocery store near the frozen pie crusts and puff pastry.
These are certified Louisiana crawfish! I feel a responsibility to my state and to my health to stay away from crawfish imported from China. I went to 4 different stores to buy these and they are worth the extra $6! Straight from Breaux Bridge Sha.
Something Green! That definitely offsets the butter, sour cream and cream cheese. I just lost a lb!
Well there’s that butter again..just found that lb I lost
Very shameful and sad confession…I don’t like mushrooms, I try and try but their texture is very unpleasant to me. However, in this recipe I chop those fungi til they are unrecognizable and their texture can’t bother me
Sprinkling the flour on the mixture thickens the sauce and locks in the flavor
Fill those little delicious, dough cups to the top
I promise this picture has a purpose. Since this recipe makes about 6 boxes of patties you will want to keep the packaging in tact as you fill them so you can put them back in the box, tape it and place them back in the freezer. If you make them to eat the next day make sure you still put them in the freezer so the phyllo dough won’t get soggy.
OH MY GOSH! I want those now…hmmm is 11 pm on a weeknight. Is ittoo late to consume a high fat appetizers? Oh, it is? Shoot, I guess I will wait until tomorrow.
Recipe: Crawfish Patties (They are called Patties because they are served in patty shells)
Makes enough to fill 6 boxes of mini phyllo shells which means it makes 90 bite size appetizers. You could also put them in personal pie shells and eat them for dinner with a salad. The possibilities are just endless!
1 lb crawfish coarsely chopped (oysters and shrimp would also work beautifully)
1 bunch of green onions finely chopped
1 container of fresh mushrooms VERY finely chopped 🙂
1 stick of unsalted butter
16 oz sour cream
8 oz cream cheese (cubed)
3 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
A few good shakes of hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste
cajun seasoning to taste (I like the taste so I add a healthy shake)
6 Boxes of Athens Mini Phyllo Cups or something similar
1. Preheat oven to 400° if you plan to eat immedietly
2. With your stove on medium melt butter and saute green onions in a large skillet.
3. Add chopped mushrooms and seafood until it is cooked through
4. Sprinkle flour over mixture and stir until it starts to thicken
5. Turn heat to low and stir in sour cream
6. Once heated through add cream cheese and stir until melted
7. Stir in hot sauce, cayenne, cajun seasoning and salt and pepper
8. Remove from heat and fill phyllo shells with seafood mixture
9. Re-box and place what you don’t plan to eat that day in the freezer. They will last in the freezer for at least 6 months.
10. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes until golden brown
