Crawfish Zerpa (stuffed Shells)

Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 lb crawfish tail, peeled
• 2 slices bread
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/4 cups half-and-half
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt
• cayenne pepper
• 1 (6 ounce) package jumbo pasta shells
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1 cup crawfish stock
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• salt
• cayenne
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• paprika

Recipe

• 1 place tails and bread in food processor.
• 2 pulsate until coarsely ground.
• 3 set aside.
• 4 melt butter and add flour, stirring constantly. add half and half gradually and let mixture simmer until reduced to 1 cup.
• 5 add reserved crawfish mixture and seasonings to half and half.
• 6 boil macaroni in salted water until al dente.
• 7 stir gently while cooking to keep shells apart. drain.
• 8 cool enough to handle.
• 9 stuff each shell with a heaping tablespoon of crawfish mixture, closing shell over filling.
• 10 to make sauce: boil cream, stock, and butter in a medium saucepan until reduced by one-half. add basil and salt and pepper to taste.
• 11 place small amount on bottom of casserole dish or individual ramekins coated with nonstick spray.
• 12 place stuffed shells in dish, pouring remaining sauce over the top.
• 13 sprinkle with parmesan and paprika.
• 14 cover and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. remove cover and bake an additional 5 minutes.
• 15 *to make crawfish stock: boil crawfish peelings with a little dry (or water), garlic, onion juice, celery seed and a dab of butter.
• 16 strain.
• 17 may be frozen for future use.