Paula Deen’s Crawfish Fettuccine

Paula Deen’s Crawfish Fettuccine…mostly.

     What do you do when you have crawfish leftover from a boil? No, really. What do you do? The easiest thing, and therefore the one I usually do, is make pasta. But I would love to hear what you do.

     I don’t know if Mrs. G was feeling bad for me for all the cooking I did this past weekend, or whether she just wanted to get into the kitchen and stretch her creative wings, but this meal is brought to you from her.  And I’m so glad she did, not only because it was AMAZING, but because if it was left up to me, we probably would have had Whataburger. 🙂

     I suppose when I was taking my usual Sunday afternoon nap, Mrs. G got online and started searching for a recipe that she wanted to make. I don’t know how long she took (although my nap was probably a good 2 hours), or what other things she looked at, but she decided to make Paula Deen’s Crawfish Fettuccine.

Sautee the onions, celery and garlic in butter

     Paula’s recipe serves 8-10 people. Well, there’s just two of us. We don’t mind leftovers, but that was way too much for us. Not to mention that we didn’t have enough crawfish. Mrs. G cut the recipe in half to better accommodate us.

Ingredients

• 1/4 pound (1 stick) butter
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped (Mrs. G left this out as she knows I can’t stand them. Is that love or what?)
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
• 3/4 cups milk
• 1/2 (10.75-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
• 4 ounces processed cheese with jalapenos, cubed
• 16 oz of cooked, peeled crawfish (leftovers from a Crawfish Boil work perfectly)
• 8 oz  fettuccine, cooked
• Fresh chopped chives, for garnish

Adding the milk

Directions

1. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.
2. Add the onions, bell peppers, celery, and garlic. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the flour and Cajun seasoning and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Stir in the milk and cook until slightly thickened, stirring constantly, 5 to 6 minutes.
5. Add the soup and cheese, stirring until the cheese is melted.
6. Add the crawfish, and cook until warmed through.
7. Serve over the fettuccine. Garnish with chives, if desired.

Adding the cheese to the sauce

     Mrs. Deen calls for processed cheese with jalapenos in her sauce. We didn’t have that on hand, so we just subbed in Velveeta. No need to make everything we eat spicy, is there?

Crawfish joining the party

See? I told you I was going to reveal what we did with those leftover crawfish from the crawfish boil.

Simmering away as the crawfish warm through

     I sure do love crawfish! Wonder if we could tweak this sauce and come up with a killer seafood enchiladas? Hmmmm….that’s a thought for another day, back to the topic at hand.

Ready to eat!!

     Wow!! What a decadent meal! Super rich and creamy. Full of flavor. Hope you aren’t on a diet or watching your calories or health. Recipes like this probably didn’t help Paula avoid diabetes. Is that too mean to say? I suppose if you limit how often you eat dishes like this, you’ll be ok. It was really tasty. I don’t think it lacked anything for not having processed cheese with jalapenos or the bell pepper. Mrs. G did comment on how she would like to tweak this to limit the amount of butter and fat in it. Try to make it more healthy. I’m all for that. While it was good, I can’t eat food like that every day. Probably shouldn’t eat it more than once a week, if that. But a life of boring bland food is a life not worth living!! So enjoy. And maybe pencil in a walk or a workout for later.

 

***Update***

     Sometimes (like  when I’m on top of my game), we do the cooks and write them up and schedule them for later. This cook was actually done Sunday and I wrote it up Monday and Tuesday even though it wasn’t scheduled to be posted until Friday. I don’t know if ironic is the word, maybe it was just karma biting me in the ass. Anyways….went to the doctor on Wednesday and it turns out I have diabetes. Guess maybe I shouldn’t have made that comment in the last paragraph. Whoops. Never fear! We are going to tackle this thing head on and follow the doctor’s orders. Sure, I’m going to have to learn to adjust my lifestyle and eating habits, but we are going to continue to bring you great tasting food, I promise!  Just maybe not like this dish represented here. But still…good food. Hope y’all have a great weekend and a Happy Easter.