Cracklin Crusted Red Snapper

1.5 pound, scale-on red snapper file (trimmed and portioned to six 4 ounce pieces)

4 ounces clarified butter

2 1/2 cups buttermilk chili consomme

Pickled crawfish tails

Spring vegetable salad

Burnt leek oil

9 ounce spicy Bowfin Caviar (Cajun caviar brand)

6 ounces sour cream or créme fraiche

Micro radish greens

Place snapper filets scale side down in a baking pan and add enough water to cover skin and submerge scales in water. Refrigerate and let soak for minimum 20 minutes, no longer than 1 hour. Before serving, remove from frig and let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat a 12-inch saute skillet over medium high with enough clarified butter to coat the entire pan about 1/8 inch.

Before the oil hits smoking point, remove snapper from water and place directly into the pan scale side down. To keep fish from curling, use a fish spatula to press the top of the filet flat. The oil and water will cause the scales to pop and become crispy like chips. Cook 2 minutes then flip filets and place in oven to cook through until 130 degrees (8 to 10 minutes). Fish should have crispy scales on top while cooking to a moist and flaky finish. Serve immediately or keep warm maximum 5 minutes. 

Chef Ryan Trahan, Blue Dog Cafe

 

Buttermilk Chili Consommé

1/2 gallon buttermilk

4 dried ancho chilies

6 dried guajillo chilies

2 dried pasilla chilies

8 ounces red onion, diced

3 fresh bay leaves

4 cloves roasted garlic

1 Tablespoon salt

8 sheets of gelatin, bloomed

Toast, rehydrate, see and stem all chilies. Heat fryer to 350 degrees. Once the oil is up to temperature, fry dried chilies submerged under oil until they puff and toast all around, about 2 minutes. Remove chilies from oil, rinse, clean, and place in a bowl. Add enough water to cover and use a small plate to weight the peppers and keep them submerged. Soak for 10 minutes. After chilies have soaked, remove from the water and remove seeds and stems. 

In a 1 gallon sauce pan add buttermilk, cleaned chilies, bay leaf, garlie and salt and bring to simmer. Once curds form, about 5 minutes, turn off heat, cover pan and allow to steep for 30 minutes. Uncover, add the  vitamix (blender) on high for 30 seconds. Strain buttermilk through a fine mesh sieve. Using a small saute pan, melt bloomed gelatin over low heat until just melted. Using a whisk, incorporate melted gelatin into strained buttermilk, then place in freezer until completely frozen, 2 to 4 hours. Once frozen, remove mixture from bowl and place in cheesecloth-lined colander with a basin underneath to catch the buttermilk as it thaws, in a warm environment. The consommé should be clear and free of all particles. Place in refrigerator and reserve for use. Serve at room temperature, let sit from frig about 20 minutes.

Chef Ryan Trahan, Blue Dog Cafe

 

Burnt Leek Oil 

2 large leeks

6 black peppercorns

1/2 cup grapeseed oil plus 1 Tablespoon (or any other flavor neutral oil)

Remove roots from leeks and separate petals. Rinse leeks to remove any sand or dirt particles and dry thoroughly. Preheat oven to 500 degrees convection on high fan. Using the tablespoon of oil, coat leeks thoroughly and roast until blackened but no ashed, about 8 minutes. Remove leeks from the oven, cool and vacuum pack in a small bag with peppercorns, grapeseed oil and salt. Heat sous vide bath to 129 degrees and cook 3 hours to infuse. Remove from the sou vide bath and place the contents of the bag into a blender and blend to combine. Remove from blender and strain through a fine mesh colander lined with an oil filter. Store refrigerated until ready to use. 

Chef Ryan Trahan, Blue Dog Cafe

 

Pickled Crawfish Tails

1/2 pound fresh Louisiana crawfish tails

2 ounces fresh lemon juice

2 ounces fresh lime juice

2 ounces fresh orange juice

2 ounces fresh grapefruit juice

1/4 teaspoon black peppercorn, ground

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flake

1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seed

1 teaspoon shallot, brunoised or chopped

1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 bay leaves

6 thyme sprigs

Remove crawfish tails from package and rinse thoroughly under cold water, pat tails dry and set aside. In a small mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients and mix. Place crawfish tails and pickle liquid into a medium sized vacuum bag and vacuum under full pressure to remove all oxygen and quick pickle the tails. Allow tails to sit under pressure in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Cut vacuum bag, strain liquid and reserve tails in the pickle liquid in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Chef Ryan Trahan, Blue Dog Cafe

 

Charred and Fresh Spring Vegetable Salad

2 ears of fresh corn

2 fresh banana peppers, julienned

3 baby summer squash

18 heirloom cherry tomatoes

6 ounces fresh lima beans, cooked and cooled

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 springs thyme

2 small spring onions

9 fresh baby okra

4 ounces reserved pickle liquid, strained

Pickled Crawfish Tails

Place fresh lima beans in an instant pot and add just enough water to cover the beans. Add salt and thyme to the pot and cook on the manual setting under high pressure 8 minutes. Once cooked, release pressure, remove the beans, strain and remove thyme, then lace in the cooler to cool until ready to use. Heat chargriller to high and allow to heat while you prep/clean vegetables. Verticlaly halve okra, remove the tops from the spring onion and quarter. 

Using a pastry brush, coat corn, okra, onion, squash and zucchini with clarified butter and grill on each side until charred, about 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool completely. While vegetables cool, add cherry tomatoes to a medium size mixing bowl, using a blow torch, blister the skins until they pop. This does not cook the tomatoes, just blisters the skins. Once they pop, peel them away from the flesh of the tomatoes and set aside in the refrigerator for later use. 

After vegetables have cooled, remove the kernels from the ears of corn, julienne charred spring onions and slice squash paper thin using a mandolin. Add all the vegetables to a medium size mixing bowl, add pickled crawfish tails (recipe above) and reserved pickled liquid, salt to taste and allow to marinate for 5 to 10 minutes until ready to serve. 

Chef Ryan Trahan, Blue Dog Cafe