December cuisine gives us the opportunity to make lovely designs with red and green impacts in the plating design. There are some great pairing possibilities such as green tomato soup and lobster medallions. Another fun and easy pairing is with zucchini squash and crawfish etouffee. Here’s my recipe and it will warm your heart if the design is made into a heart shape. Kelly’s Etouffee: Soak the crawfish in salt water. Rinse multiple times and drain. In a large pot, sauté in a half stick of butter: half of a chopped onion, a half cup of chopped celery and a half cup of chopped bell pepper. Cook until tender. Add a teaspoon of sugar, a teaspoon of chili powder, dash of salt and pepper. Add a half stick of butter and sauté the prepared crawfish for 10 minutes. Add 1 and half cans of 15 oz. tomato sauce and ¾ can of spicy diced tomatoes (about 9 oz.). Then, add a half cup of boiling water to simmer for 1 and half hours uncovered. Stir frequently. This can be served over rice. To plate the dish for Christmas, simply, sauté the sliced zucchini medallions and line the medallions in a circular design (or heart shaped) on each of the plates. Fill each plate with the strained crawfish etouffee. This will make Christmastime dining extra special. © Kelly McBride Loft