HOUSTON – Let the good times roll this Mardi Gras season.
Ahead of Fat Tuesday, Brennan’s of Houston General Manager and Chef Carl Walker shares how to make their seasonal Louisiana Crawfish Cheesecake on Houston Life.
If you want to join the party at Brennan’s with your krewe, they are offering a special three-course dinner, live entertainment and a boisterous second line through the dining room.
CLICK HERE to learn more.
Louisiana Crawfish Cheesecake
Serves 8
Ingredients:
Cornbread Crust
2 Cups - Cornbread, Baked, Cooled and Crumbled
½ Cup-Green Onions, Thinly Sliced
3 Tbsp – Unsalted Butter – Melted
Cheesecake Batter
1 Pound-Cream Cheese – Philadelphia – preferred brand – Room Temp
½ Cup - Sour Cream
¾ Cup - Monterey Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded
4-Eggs, Large
½ Cup – Onion, Small Chop
½ Cup – Celery, Small Chop
1 tsp - Garlic, Minced
2 Tbsp – Unsalted Butter
1 Pound – Crawfish Tail Meat – chop in food processor for couple pulse second, rough chop
1 Tbsp - Creole Seasoning – you might want a bit more
1 Tbsp - Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbsp - Louisiana Hot Sauce
Couple Drops - Zatarain’s Liquid Crab Boil – be careful not to add to many drops at a time
Salt and Pepper – To Taste
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 325-degrees. In bowl mix together cornbread, green onions and butter. Then, cover the bottom of a 9″ spring form pan with parchment paper. Press the cornbread mixture firmly and evenly over the bottom of the pan. Bake for about 10 minutes to crisp up the crust a little and set aside until the filling is ready.
2. Medium size skillet – sauté the onions, celery and garlic in the 2 tbsp of butter until it starts to soften the vegetables, then add the crawfish, creole seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, heat until hot and reduce some of the liquid from the crawfish. remove from heat and cool on the side.
3. In mixer bowl whisk the cream cheese with electric mixer to soften and smooth on medium speed, add the sour cream mix until soft and creamy, add the eggs one at a time mix until incorporated. Remove from the mixer.
4. In the mixing bowl, stir in the Monterey pepper jack cheese, crawfish mixture and now carefully add a couple drops of liquid crab boil to give it that crawfish boil kick, finish seasoning with salt and pepper and a little more creole seasoning, if you dare.
5. When you like how the mixture is seasoned - pour on top your green onion cornbread crust in the spring form pan, tap the pan couple times to get any air bubbles out.
6. Take a large Sheet of foil that’s wide enough to come up the sides of the pan and cradle the pan in the foil, set that foil cradled pan into another pan to make a water bath for your cheesecake to bake.
(NOTE) the foil must be one piece no holes so that the water does not seep into your cheesecake. Chef Carl Walker uses the wide heavy-duty foil for this reason.
Add enough water to the pan to come up about halfway on your cheesecake.
BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN TAKING OUT OF THE OVEN DO NOT BURN YOURSELF WITH THE WATER.
If you don’t feel comfortable with this step just bake in the oven without the water bath at 300-degrees until set.
7. Bake the cake about 45-60 minutes in 325-degree regular oven or about 300-degree convection oven setting. The cheesecake should be firm when you touch the top and maybe start to see it pull away slightly from the sides.
SERVING: You can bake the day or two ahead, slice into portion size wedges and best to warm up in microwave or oven until warm-do not get it to hot or will start to break apart.
Chef Walker likes to top it with his favorite Creole Meunière sauce, or with something like warmed up pepper jelly sauce, or remoulade sauce.
Enjoy – Happy Mardi Gras!
Recipe courtesy of Chef Carl Walker, general manager at Brennan’s of Houston.