Southern~Inspired Crawfish Fettuccini

Crawfish Fettuccine

Rich and delicious, crawfish in spicy cheese sauce in this Southern-inspired recipe!!

Crawfish Fettuccine 

The Chef In My Head 

Serves 4

1/2 C Butter

1 large clove garlic, minced

3 large shallots, sliced

4 green onions, chopped

1/4 pound sliced fresh button mushrooms

1/4 pound sliced fresh shitake mushrooms

3 T. flour

1/2 C dry white wine

3/4 C half-and-half cream

2 jalapenos, minced

1 C mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 (16 ounce) package cooked and peeled whole crawfish tails

1/2 tsp Creole seasoning (such as Tony Chachere's)

sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

1/4 C Parmesan cheese, or to taste

1/2 (16 ounce) package fettuccine pasta

Melt butter in large pot over med-high heat.  Stir in the garlic, shallot, onion, jalapeno and mushrooms.  Saute until translucent.  Add flour and saute for a 1-2 minutes to cook off raw flour taste.  Deglaze pan with white wine.  Add half-and-half and mozzarella cheese, season with Creole seasoning, salt and pepper; reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes.  

Fill a large pot wit lightly-salted water and bring to a rolling boil.  Stir in the fettuccine and return to a boil.  Cook according to package directions.  Drain well.  Serve the crawfish over the hot pasta.

Enjoy!

Add a fresh salad and crusty French bread and you have a beautiful meal!

Print this Recipe

Freshest Marinara Sauce!!

 

Pasta Marinara

This is the classic marinara sauce that I find myself using the most.  It is so simple to make a double batch and freeze individual servings.  This recipe makes about 2 quarts (8 cups), 1 quart will serve 4 over pasta as a first course.  I love it over classic spaghetti but you can use any shape you like.  Great way to get kids to eat their veggies!

Marinara Sauce by Giada

1/2 C extra-virgin olive oil

2 small onions, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 tsp sea salt, plus more to taste

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper, plus more to taste

2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes

2 dried bay leaves

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high flame.  Add the onions and garlic and saute until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes.  Add the celery, carrots, and 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper.  Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and bay leaves, and simmer uncovered over low heat until the sauce thickens, about 1 hour.  Remove and discard the bay leaves.  Season the sauce with more salt and pepper to taste.  (The sauce can be made 1 day ahead.  Cool, then cover and refrigerate.  Rewarm over medium heat before using.)



Print this Recipe

Spaghetti alla Carbonara (Spaghetti with Eggs and Pancetta)

My sweet friend Helen Wheeler-Shaw is an amazing artist!!  Please be sure to take a moment to check out her beautiful art, I know you will love it as much as I do!  Helen is so much fun and has a bit f a twisted sense of humor, maybe it's the New Zealander in her, or maybe it's just that she sounds funny.  Hmmm, I'll have to think about that a bit.  And Helen probably thinks I'm a bit slow.  She's very patient with me when I know I have that lost look when she says something to me a bit too fast with that crazy accent hers and my Texas ears.

Well, last week Helen gave me some of her beautiful eggs from her very own chickens!  Last night I used them (I have been saving them for something special) and made this delicious Carbonara.  I can't believe the taste and how different it is with fresh eggs!!!!  So rich and the color was such a deep orangishy-yellow, this photo does not show the beautiful color at all :/

Romans say that this pasta was introduced to their city by the charcoal sellers who came down from Abruzzo in earlier times to hawk their wares-which is why they named it for the carbonara, the charcoal maker's wife.

This is a super simple recipe to prepare.  Beg, borrow or steal some fresh eggs!!  What a difference!!  I have now officially talked my husband into getting about 5 chickens so we can have our own fresh eggs.  Freaky how your life changes.  Me, this city girl who grew up in Houston, now wants chickens.  Just bizarre, seriously, VERY bizarre.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

(Spaghetti with Eggs and Pancetta)

1 T extra-virgin olive oil

5 oz pancetta cut into 1/4"x 1/4' x 1" strips

1 garlic clove, minced

2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks

1 lb spaghetti

1/2 C freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano

1/2 C freshly grated pecorino romano

freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add pancetta and fry until crisp and lightly browned, 5-6 minutes.

Add garlic, mix in with pancetta and turn off heat. 

Put eggs, egg yolks and 1/4 C water into a small bowl and beat together with fork.  Add cheeses and combine.  Set aside.

Cook spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, 9-12 minutes.  Ladle a couple of spoonfuls of pasta water into egg mixture  while stirring, to temper eggs.

Drain pasta and then return it to the pot.  Use large tongs or forks to mix in the eggs/cheese, the pancetta with the garlic and all it's rendered fat and cooking oil.  Season with fresh ground pepper.  Serve in heated pasta bowls or plates and top with additional cheese sprinkled on top.  Serves 4

Thanks Helen, you better lock your hen house!!!

Print this Recipe

Tagliatelle with Chicken, Pine Nuts & Sultanas

We LOVED this pasta!!! I took it on faith and tried this recipe. Faith, and I'm not kidding. Rosemary is not my favorite herb, chicken I can take or leave, and who ever heard of raisins (sultanas) in pasta?? So here is how this oddity arrived in our pasta bowls.... I was addicted to "Tyler Florence Fridays" (not just because he looks good in a sweater) and now since that site is basically over, it has been replaced with "I Heart Cooking Clubs" (see button in my blog). This week is Nigella Lawson's Potluck. Basically, you cook one of her recipes and submit it. Since I have never tried any of her recipes, this seems like a good time, what the heck? It was delicious! I'm not kidding, REALLY delicious!! The combination of the sweet and savory was divine. Super quick (and cheap) to put together. The fresh flavors really popped!

Tagliatelle with Chicken adapted from Nigella Lawson

1 (3-1/2 pound) chicken, (I used 3 large chicken breasts)

2 Tbls extra-virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Leaves from 3 rosemary sprigs, finely minced

1/3 C sultanas (raisins), soaked in warm water for 30 minutes

1/2 C pine nuts, lightly toasted

1 pound tagliatelle

2 to 3 Tbls chopped parsley leaves

Preheat the oven 350 degrees.

Rub the chicken with the oil and sprinkle with the salt and pepper, then place it in roasting pan and for about 1 hour, or until well browned (if using whole chicken, adjust cooking time accordingly). It's done with the juices run clear, not pink, when you cut into it. When the chicken is nearly ready, put abundant water on for the pasta, salting it when it boils.

Take the chicken out of the oven and roughly cut into small pieces. If you can take the heat, try just pulling it apart, without a knife. Nigella stresses here to keep and serve the pieces with the beautiful crisp brown skin attached!

For the sauce, pour all the juices from the roasting pan into a small saucepan. Add the rosemary, the drained sultanas and the pine nuts. Begin to simmer the sauce when you are ready to cook the pasta. (I added a little more olive oil and a small pat of butter since I didn't have the amount of pan juices I would have, had I used a whole chicken cut up). This sauces smells amazing!

Cook and drain the pasta, and toss it with the sauce, chicken pieces, and parsley in a large warmed bowl.

Serves 4 (or 2, with me going back for seconds) Shockingly good!

Print this Recipe

Chicken Gorgonzola with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Artichokes & Cremini Mushrooms

This is one of my favorite dinners. Truly, in my opinion, EVERYTHING taste good with a cream sauce. If you need to reduce the calories in this recipe, you can cut back on the amount of butter and the heavy cream, but why? What if that truck has your name on it tomorrow, look what you would have missed? If you are a caper lover, go ahead and add them! I have made many variations of this recipe such as, skipping the pasta, lightly bread the chicken (as for picatta), omit the cream and up the lemon juice. Easy enough for week-night dinner and elegant enough for a dinner party. For a dinner party, I would probably add Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms for an appetizer, serve with a Ceasar Salad, Crusty French Bread and a Lemon Tart for dessert. Let me know what you think!

Serves 4

1/2 C Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (I use dried ones, you can also use oil-packed, drained well)

2 Chicken breast, skinless, halved & lightly pounded out to about 1/2 inch thick

1 pound fettuccine pasta, cooked according to pkg directions

3 Tbl Olive Oil

2 Tbl Butter

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 pound Cremini mushrooms, sliced

1/2 C canned artichoke hearts, drained & quartered

juice of 1/2 lemon

2 tsp dried tarragon

Salt & Pepper, to taste

1/2 C dry white wine

1/2 C chicken stock

1/2 C crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

1/4 C Heavy Cream

1/4 Parmesan, shredded for garnish

Heat olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to skillet and saute' until cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to plate, do not clean skillet.

Cook pasta until just tender, Drain and drizzle with tiny bit of olive oil and toss to keep it from sticking together.

Meanwhile, reheat skillet to medium-high heat, add butter. Add garlic; saute until tender. Add sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, tarragon and salt & pepper; saute for about 2-3 minutes. Add lemon juice, white wine and chicken stock. Return chicken to pan together with vegetables, cover and reduce heat to medium, for approximately 10-15 minutes.

Uncover, add Gorgonzola and heavy cream, stir to combine and heat through.

Serve over pasta and garnish with Parmesan. Enjoy!

Print this Recipe