The Woods at Whippoorhill: Crawfish Cornbread

Man, I can't remember the last time I posted! Do you? I'm pretty sure I gave you the recipe for my creamy shrimp and grits that I made a while back for "date night in" with my husband. Well, here's the crawfish cornbread I made with it.

When we were in New Orleans back in January, I picked up a Cajun cookbook for beginners. OK, who am I kidding? I picked up several! But this one had a recipe for Cajun cornbread and it seemed just the thing to go with our shrimp and grits.

I had Gerald stop at the fish market on the way home for shrimp, and I told him to pick up a pound of fresh crawfish. Usually they have them, but this time, he got this. Hummmm. Product of Egypt. Southern, yes, but not our kind of South! Well, I decided to give it a try. Not fresh, but not bad. And I had already prepped my ingredients, so I rolled with it.

I began by finely dicing half an onion, half a red bell pepper and a stalk of celery. I sauteed this in a tablespoon of EVOO until soft, but no color.

Next I added a half pound of the crawfish meat that I had roughly chopped. Saute until warmed through. Set aside and allow to cool.

I measured out one cup of cornmeal (I use the yellow self rising), one teaspoon of salt and one teaspoon of baking powder, and placed them in a large bowl. I also threw in a heaping teaspoon of the Magic Shrimp seasoning I used in the main dish.

I mixed in an egg and half a stick of melted butter. Then stir in a cup of shredded cheddar cheese.

Finally, mix in cooled veggies/crawfish mixture and stir well.

Pour into a greased and heated skillet and top with more grated cheddar. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.