Crawfish Enchiladas

It's Lent and being a Cajun, I have to get my fill of crawfish in any way, shape or form I can.  These enchiladas are like no other enchilada you have experienced before.

The ingredients for the crawfish filling and the sauce contain a lot of the same ingredients.  Chop once and divide it up.

 So are you ready to make some dinner?

Crawfish Filling:

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 tablespoons minced pickled jalapeno peppers

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1/4 cup finely chopped bell pepper (I used a combination of red and green)

1/2 chopped green onions

4 tablespoons tomato paste

1 lb. Louisiana crawfish tails

1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack/Colby cheese mixture

Crawfish Enchilada Sauce:

1-1/2 sticks butter

1/2 cup onion, minced

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1/4 cup finely chopped bell pepper

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1 cup Half-n-Half

Cayenne pepper to taste

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

2 tablespoons Louisiana Hot Sauce

1/2 cup chopped green onions

2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley

10 flour tortillas

1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack/Colby cheese mixture

9 x 13 baking dish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Melt butter in a large skillet add in the thyme, cook for 2 minutes until fragrant then add and saute green onions, bell peppers, celery, jalapeno peppers and garlic about 5 minutes.

Add the tomato paste, stir to combine.  Spread out on the bottom of the pan and cook another 5 to 7 minutes.

Add in the crawfish tails and any liquid in the bag.  Cook for another 4 minutes, remove from heat.  Empty into a bowl to cool completely.

Place the same skillet back on the stove and melt the butter

Saute the onions, celery, bell pepper and garlic until soft.  There will be a lot of liquid in the pan.

Add the Half-n-Half.  Swirl with a spoon to combine.

Add in 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese and continue swirling to combine.  Sometimes I just prefer to swirl instead of stirring. 

Add in the cayenne and the hot sauce.  Don't worry, this is not enough register very much heat at all.  Look below, the cayenne and the hot sauce give the sauce a nice color.

Add in the green onions and parsley.

Turn the burner off but leave the skillet on the burner.

 

Fold in one cup of the Jack/Colby cheese mixture to the completely cooled crawfish tails. 

Ladle just enough sauce to thinly cover the bottom of the baking dish.  Place about 1-1/2 to tablespoons of the crawfish mixture in the middle of one of the tortillas. 

Tightly Roll the tortillas and place the the baking dish seam side down.

Ladle the remaining sauce over the tortillas then sprinkle the remaining Parmesan cheese over the sauce.

Next, top the tortillas with the remaining Jack/Colby cheese mixture and place the enchiladas in a pre-heated 350 degree F oven and bake for 20 minutes.

 Remove from oven after 20 minutes and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

 Get yours before they're all gone!

Yeah, I think I am going to become a member of the clean plate club!

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