Crawfish Pimento Mac and Cheese
Justin Fox Burks
- Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 3cups gnocchi pasta shells
- 3tablespoons butter, divided
- 2cloves garlic, minced
- 3tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2cups whole milk
- 1 1/2cups Spicy Pimento Cheese (recipe linked in instructions below)
- 1 (10-ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chilies, drained
- 1 (12-ounce) package frozen crawfish tails, thawed and drained
- 3/4teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/3cup panko bread crumbs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 12-inch cast-iron skillet.
- Fill a medium saucepan three-quarters full with water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the gnocchi pasta and cook until al dente, about 5 minutes. Drain the pasta and place it in the greased skillet.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and flour. Stir and cook for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in 1 cup of the milk until smooth, then add the remaining 1 cup milk. Whisk in the Spicy Pimento Cheese until melted and smooth.
- Cook the cheese sauce until the mixture begins to thicken, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the canned tomatoes and green chilies, crawfish, and salt. Add additional salt to taste.
- Gently stir the sauce into the pasta until combined. Sprinkle the bread crumbs evenly over the top.
- Cut the remaining 1 tablespoon butter into cubes and scatter over the bread crumbs.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, until brown. If the top has not browned during baking, change the oven setting to broil and broil until golden brown. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
This recipe was republished with permission from the pages of Whitney Miller’s New Southern Table (Copyright Thomas Nelson, 2015).
