Creamy Crawfish Pasta

Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 20 mins

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 6 Servings

till looking for a Mardi Gras recipe to celebrate the season? Try this creamy crawfish pasta that comes together in a breeze. I just so happened to have some crawfish squirreled away in my freezer; this was a sensational way to use it. Instead of heavy cream, I used half & half and added tomato paste and white wine to make a creamy pasta sauce.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 green bell pepper, diced small
1 onion, diced small
2 stalks celery, diced small
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 heaping teaspoon tomato paste
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 pound frozen cooked crawfish tails, thawed
1 cup half-and-half or heavy cream
1 teaspoon Creole seasoning
Red pepper flakes, to taste
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
16 ounces penne pasta, cooked according to package directions
Chopped parsley, for serving

Instructions

In a large Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add the bell peppers, onions, and celery, and sauté until tender, about 7-8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute. Stir in the flour until the vegetables are well-coated and no white clumps remain. Stir in the tomato paste until completely combined.
Increase the heat to medium-high. Add the wine and crawfish to the Dutch oven; let the wine simmer out for a couple of minutes. Pour in the heavy cream. Add the creole seasoning, a generous pinch of red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon salt, and freshly ground pepper. Cook the sauce at a gentle boil until it is thickened and coats the back of the spoon, about 5 - 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste.
Fold the cooked penne into the crawfish sauce. Stir in a handful of chopped parsley. Serve the crawfish pasta with additional red pepper flakes, hot sauce, freshly grated Parmesan, and slices of toasted garlic bread.