This dish was made with the intent on transporting my parents back to their towns in located in the northern Greek prefecture of Florina. Florina is located about 2 hours northwest of Thessaloniki. It’s at the top end of Greece and it’s motto is “Where Greece Begins”.

This region is mountainous with stretches of elevated plateaus, it has both lush green vegetation and barren shale-like terrain which are ideal for wine-growing. The local cuisine celebrates peppers (especially the red Piperies Florinis), the locals have an affinity for spicy food, meat dishes are made with local livestock, legumes are enjoyed and a bounty of fresh water fish and other critters.

The “other critters” leads us to the subject of today’s dish, crayfish or “sweet water langoustines (literal translation). Here in North America, most of what we see on our plates (90% comes from wild-caught and farmed) crawfish from Louisiana. Crayfish live in rivers, lakes, swamps, canals and wetlands. I recall seeing little crawfish in some rivers just north of Toronto.

Both my parents remember catching crawfish in rivers near their towns. From their memory, the crawfish they would catch were more like small lobsters (not the small ones I caught and that were more for bait). There are more than 400 species of crawfish found worldwide so side, colour and taste will all vary.

Here in the Americas, crawfish are a favourite in Creole and Cajun cooking but if you venture up to northern Greece and stop for a bite at a taverna in northwest Macedonia, you just might find crawfish on the menu!

Crawfish are in season (March to May) and when I saw these at a local fish monger, I had to buy a large paper bag full of them and surprise my family with this taste of the past. When selecting crawfish, live is always preferred and you should store them in your fridge covered with damps towels for no more than a day (quite perishable). One last step before cooking your shrimp is to purge them.

When you buy live crawfish. they smell (swamp critters) and a purge is recommended. A purge is washing the crawfish well with water and then placing them in a plastic bowl. Pour enough salt to just cover them and then add tap water. Gently stir for 3 minutes then rinse well. You crawfish have been purged.

The following recipe is for an appetizer (about a kilo of crawfish). Eating crawfish is best done with your hands. This is not for a formal dinner. It’s messy, it’s delicious and diehards (like myself) even like sucking the juices out of the head!

I’ve gone with some simple flavours here: fennel, smoked paprika, red chillis, wine, garlic, some tomato and some Ouzo to accent the anise in the fennel. For obvious reasons, lots of crusty bread should accompany this dish. You’ll be scooping up sauce, slurping juices, savouring succulent crawfish.

To eat crawfish, tear the head off an suck the juices out and set aside. Now peel the bottom part of the tail’s shell and break off the tail end. Pinch the tail end the meat should squeeze out. A flap of meat will protrude from the end that was attached to the head. Tear that off and you’ve just deveined the tail meat. Pop in your mouth and grab some more crawfish before they are all gone!

Crawfish (καραβίδες του γλυκού νερού)

1 kilo of live crawfish, well rinsed and purged (see above)

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 fennel bulb, cored and sliced

3-4 scallions, sliced

3-4 cloves of garlic, sliced

1-2 red chillis, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

1 large ripe tomato, passed through a box grater

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup Ouzo

1 tsp. Sea salt

3 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

1. In a pot over medium heat,  add the olive oil, fennel, scallions, chillis, garlic, smoked paprika, white wine and grated tomato and simmer for about 5-6 minutes (uncovered).
2. Now add the crawfish, the ouzo and salt and cover. Simmer for about another 5-6 minutes or until the crawfish have turned completely red. Take off the heat, adjust seasoning and add the chopped fresh parsley.
3. Serve on a platter with lots of crusty bread, wedge of lemon and some Ouzo on ice.

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© 2007-2010 Peter Minakis