Fried Eggplant with Crawfish Stuffing
(Eggplant Stack)

Fried Eggplant with Crawfish Stuffing consists of a crawfish stuffing layered between eggplant medallions. It’s called the Eggplant Stack at the Little Village, a local Italian restaurant near my office in Baton Rouge. It’s one of my favorite items on the menu.

  

The Little Village has a splendid menu of traditional Italian fare plus many unique Creole and seafood items as well.

Oh I cannot fail to mention the homemade bread that is served in a whole loaf or half loaf soaked in olive oil and covered in fresh Parmesan cheese.  Then to top it off a black olive tapenade and baked garlic.  If you can’t tell, I love the bread!!!

The item that I order most often is what they call The Eggplant Stack.  It’s not always on the menu and often a special.  However, all I have to do is ask and they will make it for me.

So to accommodate my taste buds and the need to try and figure out how to make my favorite dish, we made this recipe and accompanying how-to video for you.

We call our version Fried Eggplant with Crawfish Stuffing.

It’s prime crawfish season now and all I want to eat Saturday night is something with crawfish.  We are not ones to have a huge crawfish boil every weekend, but I do enjoy purchasing the already peeled tail meat.

Often times we travel up to North Baton Rouge in order to visit the best seafood market in town Tony’s Seafood.  It’s a drive for us, but Tony’s is the ultimate in fresh seafood.  Catfish are literally picked from the pond, cleaned, and skinned right in front of you.  You can’t get any fresher than that.

As for crawfish, all I can say is wow.  People purchase live and already boiled crawfish by the pound and it is absolutely amazing to see the volume of business this store does.  The service is impeccable too.

It mesmerizes Mike to see how many workers are at the seafood stations ready to serve catfish, crabs, shrimp, oysters, snow crabs, and other fresh fish and even already prepared food items.

So, if I can give you one item of advice when it comes to purchasing crawfish tails, it is to look for Certified Louisiana Crawfish.  The tails are big right now in the last two packages we bought and the meat is so sweet.

I love crawfish when it is not over powered with the super-hot Cajun crawfish boil products.  Makes for some awesome tasty recipes like the crawfish stuffing layered between eggplant medallions.

Don’t let this recipe intimidate you.  

Just follow my simple instructions and amaze your family, friends, or spouse for a special dinner.

Serves: 4 – 6 (need to serve morel just double up)
Prep Time:    20 minutes
Cook Time:    25 minutes

How to Make the Fried Eggplant with Crawfish Stuffing

Ingredients:

Eggplant Medallions

1 medium size eggplant
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Egg Wash

1 egg
1/4 cup milk
Blended together

Crawfish Stuffing Cakes

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 of a 1 pound package of crawfish tail meat
1 cup Seasoning Blend (onion, celery, bell pepper)
1 teaspoon minced Garlic
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1 egg
Canola or olive oil (or your favorite oil)
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce

Cream Sauce

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon tomato paste

Seasonings

Cajun seasoning (likeTony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning)
Salt

How to Prepare Fried Eggplant with Crawfish Stuffing

Preheat oven to 275 F.

We will use the oven only to keep the eggplant medallions or crawfish stuffing cakes warm while we get the items ready before assembling.

Eggplant

Wash the eggplant and pat dry.

On a cutting board, slice the ends off the eggplant.

Slice medallions about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick (doesn’t have to be exact).

Place on a paper towel to absorb any moisture.

Sprinkle with salt.

Set aside.

Prepare Italian bread crumbs, flour, and egg wash in three separate bowls.

Season the bread crumbs with Tony’s Creole Seasoning and mix.

Next is a three step process to batter the eggplant medallions.  

1. Cover the eggplant medallion in flour on both sides.

2. Quickly dip through egg wash.

3. Then, place in the bowl of bread crumbs to cover on both sides.  Set aside on a plate.

In a large skillet, place enough oil to cover the bottom of the skillet.

Heat oil on medium heat.

Carefully place the medallions in the skillet and allow to cook on each side about 2 minutes each.

Remove and place on a pan with paper towels to absorb excess oil.

Place in the oven if you would like to keep warm while cooking the crawfish stuffing cakes.

Turn off the heat until ready to cook the crawfish stuffing cakes.

Crawfish Cakes for Your Stuffing

In a sauce pan, heat 1 tablespoon butter on medium heat.

Add the chopped Seasoning Blend and minced garlic.

Sauté for about 3 minutes.

Add the crawfish tail meat and sauté another 5 minutes in order to fully cook the tails.

In a large mixing bowl, add the 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs, 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, some Tony’s seasoning and 1 egg.

Then also add the crawfish and seasoning blend mixture.

Reserve about a dozen crawfish tails and the liquid in the sauce pan in order to use for the Cream Sauce.

Mix well crawfish and bread crumbs mixture.

Divide into 4 portions and form small patties.  Place on a wax paper.

Chill for about 10 minutes,

Then dip the crawfish cakes in the all-purpose flour coating both sides of the patty.

In the same oil used for the eggplant medallions, carefully place the crawfish stuffing cakes.

Allow to brown about 2-3 minutes on each side.

Remove to a layer of paper towels to drain excess oil.

Cream Sauce

In the sauce pan with reserved crawfish tails and liquid, return to medium heat.

Add 1 cup heavy whipping cream and 1 tablespoon of tomato paste.

Stir well and allow to thicken about 5-7 minutes.

Be careful to stir so that the cream will not scorch.

Stack it Up

Presentation is essential part of this savory experience.

Place a spoon of cream sauce on the plate to act as the anchor.

Place an eggplant medallion, then a crawfish cake, then another eggplant medallion.

Top with a drizzle of the awesome cream sauce.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, Tony’s, and parsley.

Serves well with a Caesar Salad.

My mouth is watering while I am typing this.  I can’t wait till next Saturday when I will cook this again.

Alternative Cooking Methods:  

1.)  Bake the eggplant medallions and crawfish stuffing cakes a 375 F oven for 25-30 minutes.

2.)  Chop the eggplant and cook in a saucepan with chopped 1/4 cup olive oil, chopped sweet onion, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup water.  Cover and simmer for 20 minutes on medium heat.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Beryl

 

 

 

 

 

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Cajun Cooking TV features Beryl Caillouet Stokes and her grand-daughter Addison cooking up some good eating Cajun recipes from their kitchen in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

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The Cajun Cooking TV show airs on local Baton Rouge, Louisiana channel WLFT MeTV channel 30.1 and on Cox cable channel 117 on Tuesday mornings at 10 am.

You Can Write Beryl At:
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7516 Bluebonnet Blvd # 179
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70810

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