Here’s another recipe for Louisiana crawfish — Crawfish Pasta Salad. This is a different take on using crawfish. Mixed in with pasta, the recipe is really quite tasty. The recipe is one I’ve kept for years — never throw away a good recipe.

Hospital “Pink Lady” Volunteers

The recipe is from Cam Lusco. She was a “Pink Lady” volunteer at the small rural hospital where I was employed as food service director years ago. The “Pink Ladiies”, or members of the Ladies Auxiliary, really ruled the hospital. Back then the pink ladies served in many indispensable volunteer capacities including manning the front desk and conducting funding raising activities. They wore pink jackets and at their volunteer annual luncheon you saw a sea of pink.

As Food Service Director, I was always on the lookout for new recipes or ideas for the many catered meals we served. Cam was always bright and cheery and I recall that she shared one of her favorite recipes with me. With an Italian-heritage husband-physician, Cam was a good Italian cook.

Cam Lusco’s Crawfish Pasta Salad Recipe

Combining crawfish and pasta may not be the most common way to serve crawfish, but give it a try. The pasta really complements the flavor of peeled crawfish tails.This recipe isn’t spicy but then not all Cajun or Louisiana recipes are “hot.” That’s a recent “invention” and a misconception that you have to have a fan to cool yourself down after eating a Cajun meal. The flavor in the recipe comes from the fresh herbs, dried mustard and (of course) garlic.

This is a simple recipe, very easy to prepare. Here are the ingredients for the pasta component of the salad. Just a little celery and green onions chopped up in the pasta salad along with the boiled, peeled crawfish. The hard boiled eggs are my addition to the salad. 

The salad dressing is a vinegar and oil dressing with sour cream added.The seasoning and flavor of the pasta salad comes from the fresh herbs — dill and parsley — as well as dried mustard, garlic and a little sugar and black pepper. Cam says that the salad dressing can be prepared ahead and refrigerated. The flavors blend together.

I am lucky this winter to have a fresh supply of dill and Italian flat leaf parsley growing a small iron pot just outside my back door. Last fall I filled the pot with gravel and Jiffy Mix potting soil. The herbs have grown well all fall and winter.To prepare the salad, blend the ingredients for the salad dressing and chill.If you are using partially cooked crawfish tails, or even fully cooked tails, I suggest sauteing them in a little oil until they become hot, adding  bit of Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning. Don’t over cook the crawfish or they will become tough and rubbery. These crawfish tails are fully cooked. Check the package for this information. As previously mentioned in the last post, Louisiana crawfish are identified as such on the package. I highly recommend avoiding Chinese crawfish as they taste totally different.Then boil the pasta in salted water and drain. The recipe calls for one pound of small shells. This makes a large recipe! Hard boil the eggs, chop the celery and green onions and blend the salad dressing. Mix everything up — then chill the pasta salad until ready to serve.Garnish with additional parsley and dill. Another recipe for a meal-in-one.

The evening was warm; we enjoyed the pasta salad on our back deck!