After eating our share of our crawfish, there were still tails to be had. My hubby de-headed them, put them in plastic bags, and shoved them into the freezer. I decided to conquer the task of peeling them and creating something yummy with them. Of course, my mad addiction to carbs reared its ugly head and convinced me that pasta was the way to go. But, not just any pasta. Something sassy, something out of my usual realm of indulgence, something with tasso! Oh yeah! Tasso. If you've never had it, it is a wonderfully smoked morsel of pork heaven.
Because Cajuns take our food as seriously as our religion and politics, I am a tasso and sausage snob. I cannot, will not, do not, eat the "sausage" from around these parts. (I put sausage in quotes here because what they market as sausage is not what I consider to be GOOD sausage.) Following dictionary definition, yes I suppose you could say that the links stuffed with pork and encased in some synthetic product is sausage. But, you just can't beat LEJEUNE's SAUSAGE from EUNICE. (No, I'm related and collect no money for endorsement.) I don't know what I'll do if they ever close. Every time I go in, I beg them to establish an on-line market to ship. Not that a one hour drive is too far. The problem is that they aren't open on Saturday's anymore. There's the problem.
I digress....back to the point of this post. So, I cleaned the tails which yielded about two pounds. I pan fried the tasso first, adding onions, bell peppers, and celery to the mix. Once the mixture had cooked down fairly well, I added the crawfish tails and about 1/2 cup chicken stock. I wanted to let the flavors meld a little before adding the cream and half and half. (Note: I learned the hard way a long time ago that adding any cream-based product to heat for too long will cause it to separate. Not a pretty site. So, any cream product goes in the last few minutes over a very low heat.)
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The crawfish and tasso mixture simmered for about ten minutes. I then added in the chopped green onions and garlic. Again, I find adding these things too early on in the cooking process makes them taste bitter. The last five to seven minutes of cooking, I added in the half and half and whipping cream mixture, and lowered the heat to a low simmer. Once the cream tempered, I removed some and added it to a bowl with Wondra gravy thickener. I like to use this method so as to not have lumps in the sauce, and to help thicken it a little. I then returned the mixture back to the pot, turned off the heat, removed it to a cool burner, sprinkled it with parmesan cheese, and covered the pot.
Once the noodles were cooked al dente, I strained them and tossed them into the sauce. YUMM-O!
Recipe:
1 pound cleaned crawfish tails (previously boiled),
1 pound cubed tasso
Cajun trinity to taste (onions, bell peppers, celery; I use the seasoning blend in the frozen section)
1/2 cup chicken stock2 cups half and half
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 garlic cloves minced
1 green onion diced
1 handful parsley for garnish
1 pound whole wheat penne pasta
1 1/2 Tablespoons Wondra gravy thickener
Shredded parmesan cheese to taste
In a large pasta pot, bring well-salted water to a boil. Midway through cooking process of tasso and crawfish, begin boiling noodles until al dente.
Begin sautéing tasso in heavy bottom pan. Depending on the quality of meat, it may render some fat. If so, drain before adding vegetables. Add trinity. Cook until onion is clear. Add crawfish tails and 1/2 cup stock. Simmer for approximately ten minutes. Add in green onions and garlic. Add half and half and cream stir to incorporate, reduce heat to very low simmer. After five minutes or so remove 1/4 cup liquid and mix approximately one and a half tablespoons Wondra thickener in a separate bowl. Add back to pot, stir. Remove from heat, sprinkle with parmesan cheese, and cover.
Remove noodles from water, strain. Add directly to sauce. Toss. Garnish with parsley and serve.
I forgot to mention, stay tuned for the Crawfish Bread I will make with the rest of the tails!
