Spring is just around the corner! You can tell because we’re already gardening. And swimming. And every restaurant around here without the words “happy meal” or “value size” on their menu has a banner hanging off the front of the building with one single 8-letter word:

CRAWFISH

But even better than that? Pulling up to your grocery store and finding a crawfish boil going on right next to the big plastic truck kiddie shopping carts.

Three years ago I swore that I’d never use those things. And then The Little got old enough to realize how “awesome” the carts were and started throwing tantrums. So it was 1) die a little inside and push a kiddie cart or 2) eat a mustard sandwich for dinner.

Mustard sandwiches aren’t nearly as good as Crawfish Fettuccine.

Now, I’ve come to realize that the inventor of those things was a genius. You know what a Terrible Two/Three doesn’t care about? EVERYTHING. As long as they have a shopping cart with a fake steering wheel to keep them busy while you’re digging through the bins trying to find the perfect limes for margaritas.

Even the liquor stores out here have them. God Bless Suburbia.

I picked up a kiddie cart (I’m partial to the black one with flames on the side) and 2.5lbs of already cooked (doesn’t get better than that) crawfish for a couple of dishes, but after my husband finished peeling them (I do not peel crawfish), I only had enough for one.

So I tried to make it count.

I whipped up our favorite (and light!) alfredo sauce and then spiked it with Tobasco and creole mustard. A few simple flavors with a little heat turned into a pretty phenomenal dinner. It wasn’t so spicy that my 3-year old couldn’t eat it but enough to make it not-your-everyday alfredo sauce.

Print

Crawfish Fettuccine

Turn up the heat on a light and flavorful alfredo sauce with hot sauce and crawfish.

Ingredients

• 8 oz fettuccine noodles, uncooked
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 green onions, chopped (dark green parts reserved for garnish)
• 2/3 cup milk (I use 2%)
• 3 oz (6 Tbsp) neufchatel
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• 1/2 tsp Tobasco
• 1 rounded tsp creole mustard (or other deli- or dijon-style mustard)
• Pepper
• Salt
• 12 oz cooked and peeled crawfish tails

Instructions

1. Cook pasta in salted water per package instructions.
2. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water and then drain pasta and set aside.
3. In a sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium heat.
4. Cook garlic and white and light green parts of the onion just until garlic begins to brown.
5. Add 1/2 cup reserved pasta water, milk, and cream cheese, stirring until the cream cheese has mostly melted.
6. Add Parmesan, tobasco, and mustard, stirring until the cheese has melted and the sauce is mostly smooth.
7. Add cooked pasta and crawfish tails, tossing with tongs or two large spoons to coat.
8. Add additional splashes of pasta water as necessary while tossing the pasta to smooth the sauce and ensure everything is coated.
9. Serve immediately.

Notes

Yields: 3-4 servings

Alfredo sauce adapted from The New Way to Cook Light

Estimated time: 30 minutes