Crawfish Fettuccine

My husband is not a big pasta person. He could eat rice for days, but pasta? He has to be in the mood for it. I’m the opposite. If you told me I had to eat pasta every day for the rest of my life, I would think I died and went to heaven. I LOVE pasta. I’m all about it. So, when crawfish went on sale on weekend, instead of making the usual etouffee, I hoped that my husband would be in a pasta-loving mood that day, because crawfish fettuccine was on my mind. 🙂

Well, as you can see, we had crawfish fettuccine that evening. 😛 And it was every bit as delicious as I had hoped. We ended up halving the recipe, since the original recipe would make way too much food for just my husband and I.

I do want to note that this recipe does contain Velveeta. If you aren’t OK with using processed foods, you may be able to substitute freshly grated cheese, since this recipe’s directions reminded me a lot of making a bechamel sauce. However, I personally didn’t try that to tell you if it works out the same way.

Crawfish Fettuccine
Source: adapted from Holly Clegg

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. fettuccine
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup skim milk
• 1 lb. light Velveeta, cut into small cubes
• 1 lb. crawfish tails (make sure they are cleaned)
• 1 tbsp. chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup green onions, chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp. worcestershire sauce
• pinch cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Cook the fettuccine in boiling water until al dente. Do not add oil or salt to the pot. Drain the pasta, wash in cool water to make sure the pasta doesn’t stick together as it sits, and set aside.
2. In a large pot, melt the butter and saute the onions, green bell peppers, and garlic until translucent and tender. Add the flour and stir well until everything is mixed.
3. Gradually add the milk, stirring at the same time, until the mixture is smooth. Add the cheese cubes, stirring the sauce until all of the cheese has melted.
4. Add in the crawfish tails, parsley, green onions, worcestershire sauce and cayenne pepper and mix everything together gently.
5. Add in the pasta, and using tongs, toss everything together until well-combined. Heat the fettuccine well and serve.