Crawfish Macaroni and Cheese

Miss F's big school project was "The Back 40 Museum" aka her Farm to Table project. Each kid selected a food and researched the process of farm to table. Of course Miss F selected her most favorite food: crawfish. She mad an incredible 3D model demonstrating the process of catching to table and filmed a crawfish commercial promoting her project. She also prepared a short speech to give when people visited her display at the museum. It was a spectacular project, but we had one issue. We had to make 40 "bites" of food that worked with her theme. She wanted to do boiled crawfish, but I think that wouldn't have gone over too well with the school. I don't think they had any interest in 40 2nd graders peeling crawfish tails. I suggested that we make crawfish mac n cheese, take it in a crockpot and serve it in little cups. I was worried that most of the kids wouldn't even want to try crawfish, but I was shocked to find that I was quite wrong. Many kids came back for second and third helpings...one girl had never had crawfish before and she absolutely loved it. Success!

Crawfish Macaroni and Cheese

4 tablespoons butter, divided
12 ounces crawfish tailmeat
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
2 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
¾ pound macaroni, prepared per package instructions.


Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the crawfish tails and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the tails from the pan. Add the remaining butter and reduce the heat to medium-low. Once the butter has melted, whisk in the flour. Cook the roux for 3 minutes, whisking constantly. Whisk in the milk. Bring the sauce to a boil, whisking constantly, then simmer for 3 minutes. Stir in the cheese and Cajun seasoning until the cheese is melted. Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the crawfish tails and macaroni. Serve.

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Crawfish Bisque

We had a wonderful Crawfish boil yesterday at Finley's G-Ma's. Jack outdid himself with the tasiest and spiciest crawfish, it was a great first taste for the crawfish season! Even better, he sent me home with a gallon bag full of crawfish tails. I spent the morning peeling them for Crawfish Bisque. I used the recipe from the Chronicle from Pappadeaux, but after 30 minutes of simmering, I realized that something was not quite right. I made a quick blonde roux and added it to the bisque, perfect! I also didn't have any brandy on hand, so I used sherry instead. If it is good enough for Turtle Soup, it is good enough for bisque. I also didn't add any spices except a bay leaf, since the crawfish I had were already spiced just right.

Pappadeaux Crawfish Bisque

3 lb Crawfish

1/2 c Green bell pepper

2 oz Olive Oil

1 tb Tomato Paste

1 ts Paprika

3 c Whipping Cream

1/8 ts Cayenne Pepper

1/2 c Chopped Tomato

1/2 c Chopped onion

2 qt Water

2 oz Brandy; (4 Tbl)

1. Boil crawfish in a large pot of water. Drain & cool until crawfish can be handled easily, remove tail & save shells. Refriderate tail meat.

2. Heat oil in large sauce pan or Dutch oven. Add crawfish shells, paprika & cayenne. Saute 5 minutes. Add water & bring to boil. Reduce heat & simmer 30 minutes.

3. Strain liquid into another pan. Crush shells to remove remaining liquid & add that liquid. Discard shells.

4. Return to heat and add onion, bell pepper, tomato paste, cream & tomato. Simmer 1 hour, stirring frequently. Add brandy and crawfish tail meat. Simmer 10 minutes. Serve hot.

Servings: 8

Source: Houston Chronicle

Blonde Roux - 1/4 cup butter, melt over medium heat. Whisk in 1/3 cup flour and keep whicking until all flour is incorporated. I add this about halfway through the hour simmering.

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