How to Make Crawfish Monica

Crawfish Monica is succulent crawfish tails cooked in spices and a rich cream sauce then tossed with pasta. A relative newcomer to New Orleans cuisine, it’s quickly become a favorite way to enjoy crawfish. Here’s Sweet Daddy D’s simple, no-angst recipe for this New Orleans tradition, try it with some warm and crispy french bread and a nice green salad, it will knock your socks off. 

Most popular dish at the Jazz Fest

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[Publishers Note: This is an update of the article I wrote originally in May 2018. This recipe has been very popular and I am requested to make it often. Always seeking to provide better information for my readers, I’ve updated and added some information and reformatted photographs for better web viewing. Let me know what you think.]

What is Crawfish Monica?

Over its 50 year run (so far), The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival has grown to be a world-renown celebration of Louisiana and New Orleans Culture, rivaling even Mardi Gras in popularity. The music is culturally diverse and seemingly unlimited, but don’t overlook the food. Local food purveyors offer everything from classic Creole to rustic Cajun in ordinary, exotic and even quirky dishes…which sort of sounds like our unique culture. Crawfish Monica was created by a local pasta maker wanting to help sell his pasta. When it was introduced at Jazz Fest in 1981, it quickly gained notoriety and popularity. Succulent crawfish tails in a rich, creamy sauce and mixed with rotini pasta…one taste and you’ll have no doubt how it has become recognized as the most popular Jazz Fest nosh.

Very popular at the Fest!

Here is What You Need

Rotini pasta.  The corkscrew-shaped pasta is perfect for grabbing the sauce and that’s what’s used at the Jazz Fest, but its also good with fusilli, fettuccine, linguine or Farfalle (bowtie) pasta. 

Louisiana Crawfish Tails. You can use tails leftover from a boil or go for frozen tail meat available in the freezer section of grocery stores and seafood markets in Louisiana and many other cities across the country. Look for Louisiana crawfish. The key to the sweetness of Louisiana crawfish tails is in the “fat”-that’s the yellow-orange stuff squeezed from the head and sticking to the tail meat. Actually, it’s not really fat at all but part of the crawfish digestive system and adds a sweetness to the tail meat that can only be found in Louisiana crawfish meat. Don’t wash that stuff off-it packs a lot of deliciousness. Check out the Hints and Tips below if you can’t get your hands on some Louisiana tails. 

Louisiana Crawfish Tails!

Other ingredients:

• butter                                                                  fresh lemon juice
•  yellow onions                                                               heavy cream 
• garlic                                                                                green onions
•  creole seasoning                                                                  parsley 
• dry white wine                                     grated parmesan cheese

Here’s the vegetables

Don’t forget the beer.

You’ll need a stockpot in which to cook the pasta and a Dutch oven or similar large heavy bottom pan to make the sauce and mix in the pasta. 

Here is What You Do

First…you have a beer. Something this good, shouldn’t be this easy. The mise en place starts with a beer that you consume while reading the recipe from top to bottom. Make sure you have what you need and you know what to do with each ingredient. The process is simple, it’s a cream sauce built on top of some onions and garlic, seasoned with spices. As the dry white wine reduces with the onions and spices the flavors concentrate. When the sauce thickens slightly, the tails are added before the pasta is mixed in. If you get everything prepped and get the hang of this no-angst process, you’ll be making it all the time.

Mise en place

Place the crawfish tails in a bowl and mix with Creole seasoning (see the Hints and Tips for more about these tails). Set this aside while you dice the onions, parsley and garlic and squeeze the lemon.

Chop the onions, parsley and garlic and squeeze the lemon

Measure out the butter, heavy cream, wine, parmesan, creole seasoning and cayenne pepper (if using).

Here’s the rest

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. You’ll want this to be a little al dente with just a bit of a bite when you mix it all up. Reserve about ¼ cup of the pasta cooking liquid and mix that and a drizzle of olive oil back into the drained pasta…then set it aside until the sauce is ready.

Cook the pasta to al dents and set aside

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Saute the onions and garlic in the butter

Melt the butter over medium-high heat in a heavy bottom dutch oven. When the butter is frothy, throw in the onions. Stir around frequently until they are soft, about 5 to 8 minutes, then toss in the garlic. Shake the pan around until they are all mixed up and you catch that great garlic aroma. That will only be a minute or two. 

Start with the yellow onions and garlic

Add the creole seasoning and wine

When the garlic becomes aromatic, add the Creole seasoning and cayenne pepper (if using), stir well and let it saute about two minutes. This really adds some great color to the dish and toasts the spices a little which helps the flavors bloom. Next, add in the wine, bring it to a simmer until it almost evaporated. That will really help concentrate the flavors. 

Add the seasonings and the wine

Add the cream and lemon juice 

The cream goes in and the lemon juice follows right behind. Stir and shake the pan to make sure that everything is mixed together well. When the sauce begins to boil, turn the heat down to medium-low and let it simmer for a few minutes, just until it starts to thicken. Don’t let it thicken too much, you want it to coat all the pasta later.

Add the heavy cream and lemon juice and simmer a couple of minutes

Time for the crawfish tails, green onions and parsley 

Add the crawfish tails a handful at a time, making sure to separate them as you add them. Treat the tails tenderly, stirring them gently into the sauce. These tails are already parboiled or maybe completely cooked so you only need to heat them through, which should take only a couple of minutes. 

Add dem tails!

Once the tails are mixed in, add the green onions and parsley and stir it all together. 

Add the chopped green onions and parsley

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Blend in the pasta and parmesan 

Give the pasta a good stir. Add the pasta to the sauce a little at a time, blending completely before you add more so it does not lump. You may not need the entire pound of pasta, so start with about half, blend that in then add half of what’s left. You’ll need to judge how much to add because you want to make sure that all the pasta is well coated-if you have too much pasta there may not be enough sauce to coat it all.

Blend in the rotini

Once the pasta is all coated with the sauce, add ½ cup of parmesan cheese and stir it together to incorporate all the ingredients.

Finish it off with grated parmesan!

That’s it, all there is to it. When you dish it up, have the remaining parmesan cheese out so people can sprinkle more on top. Pair this with a green salad, like a Sensation Salad and some crispy, hot french bread. 

Crawfish Monica!

Does this look good to you? Check out these other Cajun and Creole Recipes:

Hints and Tips

What kind of crawfish should I use? Definitely Louisiana crawfish tail meat. This is a perfect dish to use leftover tail meat from a crawfish boil. There are also plenty of frozen tails available in the freezer section of grocery stores and seafood markets in Louisiana and many other cities across the country and is usually what I go with. The key to the sweetness of Louisiana crawfish tails is in the “fat”-that’s the yellow-orange stuff squeezed from the head and sticking to the tail meat. Actually, it’s not really fat at all but part of the crawfish digestive system. Don’t wash that stuff off-it packs a lot of deliciousness. 

What about imported crawfish? It’s also not uncommon to find imported crawfish tails, usually from China, in the seafood market or grocer’s freezer section. These are not as consistent but will work if that’s all you can get. My experience is that the “fat” in the imported tails is bitter and needs to be rinsed off the tails before you use them. 

Wherever you get your crawfish tails, they will be already cooked (parboiled), so they only needed to be heated through in this recipe.

Where can I get Louisiana crawfish tail meat? If you don’t have a local source for Louisiana crawfish tail meat, you can order them online at Cajun Grocers (dot-com) and Tony’s Seafood. I don’t have any affiliation with these businesses, but I have used them both and know they are reliable and have quality products. You can also search Amazon (I do have an affiliate relationship with Amazon and as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The price you pay as a consumer does not change, but I may make a small commission based on your purchase).

What type of pasta should I use? The traditional Jazz Fest version is made with Rotini pasta, that’s the short corkscrew-shaped pasta.  Rotini is perfect because it’s shape helps grab the sauce, so any substitute should do the same. Some great options are fusilli (also a twisty-shaped pasta), fettuccine and linguine work well because of their flat shape and farfalle’s bowtie shape is also well suited for this dish.  

Leftovers? You probably won’t have any but I have found that freezing leftover Monica does not go very well. The cream sauce has a tendency to separate and the pasta can get mushy. I would stick with refrigerating leftovers in airtight containers for up to 3 or 4 days. You can reheat in the microwave or in a saucepan, making sure to warm it slowly and stir frequently to keep everything together.  

This is so simple, its hard to screw up, but I have…here’s how. It’s a pretty simple process but these are things I’ve done that turned out less than perfect results: 

• First, not using Louisiana crawfish. I know I keep going back to that but believe me, there is a difference. Stick to Louisiana Crawfish but if you have to use imported, make sure to rinse them well. Don’t rinse the fat off of Louisiana crawfish. 
• The next misstep would be overcooking the pasta. Just cook the pasta according to the package directions for al dente (meaning to cook until it gives a slight resistance when bitten-not overcooked or undercooked; meaning “tooth” in Italian.) A little bite in the pasta will make sure it won’t be overcooked after you blend it into the sauce. 
• Finally, make sure you don’t simmer the sauce too long after you add the cream or add too much pasta to the sauce. In these situations, there won’t be enough sauce to cover the pasta sufficiently and it will seem a little dry. The dish should be a little “juicy” when you’re ready to serve it. 

Can I substitute crab or shrimp? Yes. I’d recommend lump crabmeat if you go that way. The lump will stand up much better than smaller pieces of crabmeat in the pasta. Unlike crawfish and crab meat, shrimp will not be pre-cooked, so if you make this with shrimp, make sure you give the shrimp enough time to cook in the sauce (this will take 5 to 8 minutes) before you add the pasta. Make sure this doesn’t result in the sauce reducing too much. To avoid that, you can saute the shrimp in the butter for about 2 or 3 minutes (turning once) before you do the onions, then remove the shrimp and add them back at the end when you add the pasta.

Yeah You Right!

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Here is another great pasta recipe from Sweet Daddy D, this time with Shrimp!

Shrimp David

Plump shrip and andouille sausage in a creole mustard-cream sauce and tossed with pasta.

Try these other favorite Crawfish dishes from Sweet Daddy D:

Cajun Crawfish Étouffée

Crawfish Etouffee is a simple yet tasty and homey plate of crawfish tails smothered in rich gravy, served over rice. Its a staple in South Louisiana in both Cajun and Creole cuisines.

Cajun Crawfish Bisque

Crawfish Bisque is the Dean of Cajun cuisine. The recipe features cleaned crawfish heads stuffed with a filling made from ground crawfish tails, vegetables and spices, cooked in a roux based bisque made with the trinity cooked downwith herbs and spices in arich crawfish stock .

Crawfish Pie

One of the stars of Cajun and Creole cuisines, Crawfish Pie is a savory filling made from succulent, Louisiana crawfish tail meat simmered with Louisiana seasoning and spices in a rich stock, then baked to golden perfection in a pie shell.

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Yeah You Right!

Recipe

Crawfish Monica

Succulent crawfish tails cooked in spices and a rich cream sauce then tossed with pasta. Crawfish Monica has become the most popular dish at the New Orleans Jazz Festival after being introduced in the early 1980s-a New Orleans classic in a short period of time.

4.28 from 11 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: Cajun, Creole

Keyword: crawfish monica

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 8 Servings

Calories: 608kcal

Author: Sweet Daddy D

Here's What You Need

• 1 pound rotini pasta
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 tablespoons Butter
• 1 medium yellow onion chopped
• 4 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 tablespoon creole seasoning plus some for the crawfish
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne optional
• 1/2 cup Dry White Wine
• 2 cups Heavy Cream
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 pounds Louisiana crawfish tails
• 1 bunch green onions chopped
• 1/2 cup parsley chopped
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese grated and divided

Here's What You Do

• Cook the pasta to al denté according to the package direction.
• Reserve about 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water before you drain the pasta. Drain but do not rinse, return the pasta to the pot, add the cooking liquid and about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and mix well. Set aside, covered to keep warm.
• Place the crawfish tails in a bowl and sprinkle with Creole seasoning. Mix well and set aside.
• In a large sauté pan, melt the butter over medium high heat until frothy.
• Add the yellow onions and saute until soft, about 8 minutes.
• Add the garlic and continue to saute until aromatic, about 2 minutes.
• Add the creole seasoning and cayenne (if using) and stir well. Saute another two or three minutes.
• Add the wine, bring to a heavy simmer and allow the wine to evaporate almost completely.
• Add the cream and lemon juice, stirring and shaking the pan until well blended.
• Simmer on low for a couple of minutes until it begins to slightly thicken.
• Add the crawfish tails a few at a time and stir well to blend completely.
• Allow the crawfish tails to only warm through (about 3 minutes), then add the green onions and parsley.
• Mix well and simmer about two minutes.
• Add in the cooked pasta a little at a time. Stir completely until all the pasta is coated with the sauce and the crawfish are distributed throughout. See Recipe Notes.
• Stir in about 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese and mix well. Reserve the remaining parmasean cheese.
• Remove from the heat. When serving, sprinkle more parmesan cheese on top.

Recipe Notes

What type of pasta should I use? The traditional Jazz Fest version is made with Rotini pasta, that’s the short corkscrew-shaped pasta.  Rotini is perfect because it’s shape helps grab the sauce, so any substitute should do the same. Some great options are fusilli (also a twisty-shaped pasta), fettuccine and linguine work well because of their flat shape and farfalle’s bowtie shape is also well suited for this dish.  

Leftovers? You probably won’t have any but I have found that freezing leftover Monica does not go very well. The cream sauce has a tendency to separate and the pasta can get mushy. I would stick with refrigerating leftovers in airtight containers for 3 or 4 days. You can reheat in the microwave or in a saucepan, making sure to warm it slowly and stir frequently to keep everything together.  

Where can I get Louisiana crawfish tail meat? If you don’t have a local source for Louisiana crawfish tail meat, you can order them online at Cajun Grocers (dot-com) and Tony’s Seafood. I don’t have any affiliation with these businesses, but I have used them both and know they are reliable and have quality products. You can also search Amazon (I do have an affiliate relationship with Amazon and as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The price you pay as a consumer does not change, but I may make a small commission based on your purchase).

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Nutrition

Calories: 608kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Cholesterol: 131mg | Sodium: 319mg | Potassium: 293mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1899IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 223mg | Iron: 1mg