Good thing we don't have to live on a bayou - or a 'crik' . Or a river. Or even in the south - to enjoy crawdads.
Whether you call them crawfish, crayfish, or crawdads, the succulent little devils are tasty - and better yet, someone else cleaned and cooked them! You may already have your own crawdad source, but if not its a sure thing that you do have a Wal-Mart nearby where you'll find wonderful small plastic packages of frozen, cooked, ready -to -use crawdad meat in the seafood freezer
This recipe is meant for feeding a mob. Luckily it's simple to make only half, which might feed 8 people, or as I do, quarter it to feed 2 very hungry people with a bit of leftovers. For quite some time I have thought about making leftovers into a yummy soup, which I think would be quite do-able just by adding broth or milk or both to thin it a bit. Its already a thin sauce. Broth made from shrimp ( or crawdad) shells would be awesome, I think. One of these days I'll deliberately make too much so I can test out that theory.
Directions: First, cook about 24 oz of multi-colored rotini pasta - you know, short corkscrews. They have so many great places to collect the sauce, they're perfect, although I suppose another very textured pasta, like broken up curly fusilli or cavatappi would work. I know you will remember to use as much salt as your veins will allow in the pasta water. Cook only to al dente, and don't overboil. Drain and set aside- -- what comes next only takes a few minutes, so have the table set and sides ready.
While the pasta's cooking, open the thawed crawdad meat, about 24 ounces total, more or less. Drain it in a colander.
In a large deep skillet, drop 2 sticks of unsalted butter til its melted & bubbly-hot. Stir in 3 TB Cajun seasoning.* Stir like crazy for a few seconds and then pour in 6 cups of heavy cream. Stir again and take note of how full your pan is, then let it simmer til its reduced to about half. Throw in a cup of chopped green onions, both the white and much of the green parts. Add the pasta & the crawdads, stir, and let everything heat through to serve. It's more liquid-y than a baked pasta casserole would be.
Now put on some jazz or zydeco and serve!
* adapt to your own level of heat and/or brand of seasoning. My tolerance is pretty low- I just like the barest hint of heat so I use 1 scant Tablespoon. I know, I know, I'm a wuss. That's what hot sauce on the table is for! If you're being cautious, start off with 1 TB and add more as you go. Remember that as it reduces, the heat will intensify some more . Don't plan to freeze leftovers, the sauce seems to be quickly absorbed and vanishes into thin air.
