Crawdad Linguine

The family was over today expecting Sunday lunch and I decided to make my Linguine with Crawfish, Butter, Garlic and Wine sauce.  I know there are many people in this area that would pay $20 for a lobster tail but you couldn't pay them to eat crawdads.  To that all I can say is you don't know what you're missing.  Just think of them as very small freshwater lobsters and you won't be far off the mark.   When I was growing up, we used to play in the creeks and try to find crawdads under the rocks.  I never knew they were edible until after I was grown and learned about Cajun cooking.   


This is a fairly inexpensive dish considering it has shellfish in it.  Fortunately for us, Walmart now carries frozen Boudreaux's Brand Crawfish Tailmeat in a 12 oz. package.  It's less than $7 for the package and is probably at least the equivalent yield of one of the big five pound bags of frozen whole crawdads.  It's aleady cooked, peeled and deveined so all you have to do is thaw it and incorporate it into your dish.  Boudreaux's tails are small so consider them more like popcorn crawdads rather than mini-lobster tails.  The package does include the fat so they're more flavorful.  They come from China but are good quality and I've been using these for awhile.  To quickly thaw the tailmeat, I just place the frozen pack into a larger bowl and cover with cool water.  I place an empty coffee cup on it to keep it submerged.  You'll need to change the water and flip over the package after about fifteen minutes.  After about 30 minutes it should be thawed enough to use.  I usually do this while I'm preparing the rest of the dish.  This dish is also easily adapted to use shrimp or scallops instead of crayfish.  I didn't take any pics this time as everyone was really hungry but the crawfish adds a vibrant red color which makes the finished dish attractive.

Here's my recipe for those interested:

Linguine with Crawfish, Butter, Garlic and Wine Sauce

Ingredients:
2 lbs. Linguine dry pasta
1 pack, Boudreaux's Brand Crawfish Tailmeat 12 oz., thawed
1-1/2 sticks Butter or margarine
5-6 cloves Garlic, smashed, peeled and finely chopped
2 Tbsp. dry White Wine such as sherry or rice wine
2 tsp. Salt (only 1 tsp. if using salted butter)
1/4 tsp. Sweet Basil, dried
1/4 tsp. Oregano, dried
Black Pepper, fresh ground (lightly dust on plated serving)


Directions:
In a large stockpot bring at least one gallon of salted water to a boil and prepare linguine per package directions.  While the water is coming to a boil, in a medium-sized sauce pan melt the butter or margarine and add the garlic.  Bring to a gentle simmer and then add the salt, sweet basil and oregano.  Stir and let this simmer for at least fifteen minutes. About five minutes before the pasta is ready, stir in the wine and add the crawfish to the sauce, gently separating the tails from the block.  As the tails are already cooked, don't raise the heat, just let them get warmed through in the sauce.

When the pasta is done, drain in a colander and run water over it to stop the cooking process.  You only need to do this for maybe thirty seconds and it will also help keep the pasta from sticking to itself.  Put half the drained pasta back into the stock pot and add half of the sauce with crawfish and mix in thoroughly.  The repeat with the rest of the pasta and sauce.  This way the meat and sauce will be more evenly distributed within the pasta and it doesn't give the pasta a chance to stick together.  Break out the plates and serve with garlic cheese bread and perhaps a small salad and you've got a big meal for four or five hungry folks.  Enjoy!