Creamy Crawfish Pasta

By garciamoss

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 green bell pepper, diced small
• 1 onion, diced small
• 2 stalks celery, diced small
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 heaping teaspoon tomato paste
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 pound frozen cooked crawfish tails, thawed
• 1 cup half and half or heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon Creole seasoning
• Red pepper flakes, to taste
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 16 ounces penne pasta, cooked according to package directions
• Chopped parsley, for serving

Preparation

Step 1

In a large Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add the bell peppers, onions, and celery, and sauté until tender, about 7-8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute. Stir in the flour until the vegetables are well-coated and no white clumps remain. Stir in the tomato paste until completely combined.

Increase the heat to medium-high. Add the wine and crawfish to the Dutch oven; let the wine simmer out for a couple of minutes. Pour in the heavy cream. Add the creole seasoning, a generous pinch of red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon salt, and freshly ground pepper. Cook the sauce at a gentle boil until it is thickened and coats the back of the spoon, about 5 - 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Fold the cooked penne into the crawfish sauce. Stir in a handful of chopped parsley. Serve the crawfish pasta with additional red pepper flakes, hot sauce, freshly grated Parmesan, and slices of toasted garlic bread.