Snapper with Spicy Crab-and-Andouille Sauce

• Recipe by John Folse

John Folse, who owns the New Orleans–based speciality-food company Chef John Folse & Co., learned all about Cajun ingredients while growing up in a trapper's cabin in St. James Parish, Louisiana. After opening his first restaurant, Lafitte's Landing, Folse sought out a hot sauce that he could use in his elegant French-Cajun dishes. He automatically thought of the long skinny bottle of Louisiana Hot Pepper Sauce that was a staple on his family's dinner table because it seemed to go with everything. Folse located that sauce, but found that he liked a newer Tabasco-mixed chile version, called Louisiana Gold Pepper Sauce, even better. He particularly liked that it's pure chile flavor was not masked by the addition of vinegar which he thinks interferes with the subtle flavors of foods like the buttery crab and andouille sauce that tops the succulent sautéed snapper here.

Ingredients

1. 2 ounces lump crabmeat, picked over (1/4 cup)
2. 2 ounces andouille sausage, thinly sliced (1/4 cup)
3. 1/2 cup dry white wine
4. 3 tablespoons Louisiana Gold Pepper Sauce
5. 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
6. 1 scallion, thinly sliced
7. 1 garlic clove, minced
8. 1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
9. Salt and freshly ground pepper
10. 2 cups white rice flour or all-purpose flour, for dredging
11. 1 large egg, lightly beaten
12. 1/2 cup milk
13. 1/2 cup water
14. Six 7-ounce red snapper fillets
15. 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a medium skillet, combine the crab, andouille, wine, Louisiana Gold Pepper Sauce, lemon juice, scallion and garlic and simmer over moderate heat until the liquid has reduced by half, about 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to moderately low and add 3 or 4 tablespoons of the butter, shaking and swirling the pan until it is melted. Continue adding the butter a few tablespoons at a time, shaking and swirling the pan until all of the butter is incorporated and the sauce is thick and creamy; do not let the sauce boil. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm over very low heat.
2. Put the rice flour in a shallow bowl and season it with salt and pepper. In another shallow bowl, whisk the egg with the milk and water. Dip the snapper fillets in the egg wash, then dredge them in the rice flour, pressing to help it adhere.
3. In each of 2 very large skillets, heat 1/4 cup of the oil until shimmering. Add the snapper fillets to the skillets and fry over high heat, turning once, until golden and crisp, about 6 minutes. Spoon the sauce over the fillets.