“Macaroni and cheese is the comfort food for all ages.”
Crawfish Mac & Cheese with Spinach
One of my favorite "eating out" foods comes from Judd's Downtown which is a restaurant in nearby Longview, Texas. I always order their specialty dish of Crawfish Mac & Cheese which is jazzed up with andouille sausage. I truly love this dish but it is so rich and heavy that I have to fast for several days afterwards! Recently I started surfing around on the Internet and found hundreds of Mac & Cheese recipes of which the majority ranged from 600 kcals to 1900 kcals per dish ... WOW! First, that made me wonder how many calories were in Judd's dish and second, could I come up with something in a more moderate calorie range that was still tasty. Well, I'll likely never learn the secrets of Judd's dish but, according to my taste testers, I have been successful with number two! My dish has 378 kcals in one heaping cup and my wife says it tastes so good that it is her new favorite meal! Give it a try, I think you'll agree with Karen.
All Content © 2023 All Rights Reserved, J. Taylor, Marshall, TX
Ingredients
Instructions
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Assemble all the ingredients. Preheat oven to 350° F. Warm (do not boil) the milk in a large Pyrex measuring cup in the microwave and set aside. Add the pasta water (see note) to a large pot and heat to a rolling boil.
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Add the pasta noodles and cook for 10 minutes until al dente. Drain and reserve a cup of the pasta water in case it is needed later.
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In a large sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat, sauté the garlic for about a minute and whisk in the flour. Cook for two minutes continually stirring to form a roux.
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Slowly pour the warm milk into the roux while constantly whisking. Stir for about 3 minutes ensuring that the mixture is smooth with no lumps.
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Add 2 cups of the grated cheese and stir until melted. Add the Cajun seasoning and the dried shallot and continue to stir for another minute or two.
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Add the chopped spinach, cover and simmer until the spinach begins to wilt, about 3 minutes. Remove the cover and stir to combine the spinach into the creamy mixture.
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Add the cooked pasta noodles and then the undrained crawfish tail meat.
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Slowly stir the contents of the pan slowly until all is well combined.
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Top with the remaining half cup of cheese and bake in the preheated oven uncovered for 15 minutes. Turn on the broiler and heat the top for about 3 minutes until it begins to brown and becomes bubbly.
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Serve with hot garlic bread and enjoy.
Serving Size 1 cup
Servings 8
- Amount Per Serving
- Calories 378kcal
- % Daily Value *
- Total Fat 20g31%
- Saturated Fat 12g60%
- Cholesterol 89mg30%
- Sodium 425mg18%
- Potassium 192mg6%
- Total Carbohydrate 6g2%
- Dietary Fiber 1g4%
- Sugars 2g
- Protein 22g44%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Note
About the pasta ... When shopping for this pasta, don't be confused by Cavatappi's twin, Cellentani. Cavatappi is a generic name adopted by other brands that imitated Barilla's Cellentani. This particular shape was born in the 1960s at Barilla in Parma when a set of pasta dies had been mistakenly made with a spiral (instead of straight) set of lines. These produced pasta in a spiral or spring shape. Because Barilla trademarked the name Cellentani, other pasta producers had to use other names, such as Cavatappi (Italian for corkscrews). As controversial as it may sound, there is actually little to no discernible difference between the two so use whatever is on the grocery shelf!
About the pasta water ... I prefer a teaspoon of Zatarains liquid crab boil seasoning with 4 to 6 cups of water but a great substitute is the same amount of commercial seafood stock. If you DON'T use the crab boil seasoning then you might consider adding 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes to the roux mixture when you add the Creole seasoning.
About the milk ... whole milk is the standard but, 2% is acceptable as well as half & half or any combination of the three including making your own.
About cheese ... most recipes call for colby jack or just monterey jack which is fine. I typically use a blend of swiss and gruyere cheese packaged by Private Selection. For the topping cheese I used Parmesan or preferably an alternative such as Piave or Grana Padano.
