Recipe: Creamy Crawfish and Collards

Louisiana myth circulating on the Internet: Collards and crawfish do not taste good when they are cooked in the same pot.

Truth evidenced in Spicemouths’™ kitchens: Collards and crawfish taste wonderful cooked in the same pot. This recipe is proof.

Getting started: The crawfish tails in this recipe are unseasoned. If you plan to use some leftovers, you will need to adjust the seasonings. ( Louisiana eaters never seem to have leftover crawfish.) Plan to cook a fresh pot of collards.

Ingredients
2 pounds (a pot full) fresh collards,
chopped and washed
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup chopped onion
3 cups water
2 tablespoons red vinegar
2 tablespoons Splenda®
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups Fat Free Halve & Half®
12 ounces frozen crawfish tails
2 teaspoons Madras curry powder
½ teaspoon ground red pepper

Preparation
In the soup pot, sauté the collards, onions, and garlic with 2 tablespoons olive oil.
Pour the water into the pot, add the vinegar and Splenda®, and let that pot simmer until the water evaporates.
In the skillet, mix the olive oil and flour. Heat, but do not brown the mix (white roux). Stir in the cream. Heat and stir until the sauce is smooth. Add the crawfish and warm gently.
When the collards are tender and cooked down, add the crawfish mix and seasonings.
Simmer approximately 5 minutes.