Dirty Rice Cakes with Crawfish Mardi Gras Mix

3 cups dirty rice, cooled
¼ cup green onion, chopped
2 Tbsp parsley, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
¼ cup coarse bread crumbs
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
¼ cup unsalted butter

Crawfish Mardi Gras Mix

1 Tbsp olive oil
½ cup red onion, minced
¼ cup red pepper, diced
¼ cup green pepper, diced
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp creole seasoning
¼ pound cleaned crawfish tails, chopped fine
2 Tbsp sour cream
1 Tbsp parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

In a food processor, pulse 1 1 /2  cups of the dirty rice (Do not make a paste, the rice should just begin to resemble coarse bread crumbs).

Place pureed rice in a mixing bowl with the remaining rice, green onions, parsley, eggs and plain bread crumbs crumbs. Mix well.

Form into 1 1 /2-inch round patties approximately 3 /4-inch thick. Gently bread the cakes using the Italian bread crumbs.

In a large sauté pan, melt butter over medium heat and brown cakes on both sides. Place browned cakes on a baking sheet.

Bake the cakes for 8-10 minutes.

Top warm rice cakes with crawfish mixture and heat for 5 more minutes.

Place on serving dish and top with a small dollop of red-pepper aioli.

Yield: 20 cakes

Crawfish Mardi Gras Mix

Heat olive oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, peppers, garlic, salt, and creole seasoning and cook 4-5 minutes. Let cool. Combine cooled vegetables, crawfish, sour cream and parmesan cheese.