Crawfish Fettucine

This recipe makes a lot and will feed a big crowd. The thing I love the most is I can make it ahead of time by cooking it right up to the point before adding the cream and crawfish and stop. I call this the "base". You can refrigerate it or you can freeze it at this point. Depending on what you do either bring it to room temperature or thaw and bring to room temperature then heat slowly on low. Once heated then add your crawfish and cream, simmer gently for 10 minutes and it tastes like you just made it. I make the base and divide it into two portions and freeze. By doing this I can pull out just one portion of "base" and put it together when I'm just feeding a "battalion" and not the whole "army". Just remember if you divided the base you would only add half of the cream and half of the crawfish and use half of the fettucine. The Jalapeno Velveeta is a little spicy so be careful if you add red pepper. I adjust the amount of fettucine to suit how I want to serve this dish. If I need to "stretch" it I will add all of the fettucine. If I want to have more of the crawfish than pasta then I will adjust how much fettucine I add - it just boils down to personal preference.

• Ready In: 1 hr 30 mins
• Serves: 18-20

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 cups butter
• 3  large onions, finely diced
• 2  large bell peppers, finely diced
• 3  garlic cloves, minced
• 1⁄2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1  lb Velveeta Mexican cheese
• 4  lbs crawfish tails (peeled)
• 6  cups heavy cream
•  salt
•  black pepper
•  dried ground cayenne pepper
• 4  lbs fettuccine pasta, cooked

Directions

1. In large heavy pot melt butter.
2. Add onions and bell pepper and saute over medium heat until soft and slightly carmelized, about 30 minutes.
3. Add garlic and saute for about 2-3 minutes.
4. Add flour and cook for about 5-8 minutes stirring frequently to prevent sticking.
5. Add salt, black pepper and red pepper to taste.
6. Add cheese continuing to stir to prevent sticking until cheese is melted.
7. Slowly add heavy cream stirring until completely incorporated.
8. Add crawfish tails and bring to a gentle simmer.
9. Gently simmer on low for 10 minutes.
10. Adjust seasonings to taste.
11. Combine crawfish mixture with cooked fettucine, stirring gently to incorporate.