AuthorZaki UddinIngredients
Directions
Fry the minced garlic and bell pepper with the shrimp (with creole ingredients)
Fry the sausage
Prepare the roux
Add the seafood stock. Continually stir until everything looks homogeneous. Next add the heavy whipping cream and milk and stir until smooth as well. Then add the cream cheese and mash it until it homogenizes into the sauce. And now slowly add the shredded cheeses a little bit at a time.
Take all of that leftover garlic, bell pepper, seasonings and butter sauce and spoon it right into the cheese sauce for added flavor.
Cook the macaroni
Spoon all the macaroni into the baking pan
Pour in all the cheese sauce
Add your shrimp and crab
Next add the Italian sausage
Sprinkle over more cheese on top
Add a few pieces of shrimp on the cheese for presentation
Sprinkle on some parsley and smoked paprika as a garnish
Bake at about 400 for about 25 minutes
If you're tired of the usual cheddar mac and cheese flavors, try this Cajun recipe, it's got a spicy Creole kick to it. And this one's got some surf 'n' turf ingredients, so you've got shrimp and crab meat as well as Italian sausage. For the cheeses I used sharp cheddar cheese and pepper jack. Other than preparing the usual mac and cheese sauce, all that I really added was garlic and a red bell pepper. This is a pretty simple recipe as far as preparation goes, but it has lots of flavor coming from the Creole seasoning. The only thing to keep in mind is the critical step of making sure that the cheese sauce properly emulsifies with the roux that you prepare. Other than that it's a pretty simple and delicious recipe.
I'm using some pretty common Cajun seasonings. Starting with Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning. Because this is a seafood recipe, I'm also using Old Bay and Zatarain's shrimp and crab boil concentrate. The minced garlic and bell pepper are going to be pan fried with the shrimp and parsley in butter. Remove from the pan and cut tino halves to make them more bitesize.
The next two meat ingredients are pretty easy. I'm just using a can of lump crab meat. And some Italian sausage in a bulk package. You can fry the sausage anyway you like. And break up the sausage to whatever size you prefer.
Ingredients
Directions
Fry the minced garlic and bell pepper with the shrimp (with creole ingredients)
Fry the sausage
Prepare the roux
Add the seafood stock. Continually stir until everything looks homogeneous. Next add the heavy whipping cream and milk and stir until smooth as well. Then add the cream cheese and mash it until it homogenizes into the sauce. And now slowly add the shredded cheeses a little bit at a time.
Take all of that leftover garlic, bell pepper, seasonings and butter sauce and spoon it right into the cheese sauce for added flavor.
Cook the macaroni
Spoon all the macaroni into the baking pan
Pour in all the cheese sauce
Add your shrimp and crab
Next add the Italian sausage
Sprinkle over more cheese on top
Add a few pieces of shrimp on the cheese for presentation
Sprinkle on some parsley and smoked paprika as a garnish
Bake at about 400 for about 25 minutes
Now for the difficult part, the cheese sauce. The most common mistake with a mac and cheese sauce is that the cheese comes out lumpy. The key is to prepare the roux first. Equal parts butter and flour. After cooking on low heat for a little bit you can now add the seafood stock. Continually stir until everything looks homogeneous. Next add the heavy whipping cream and milk and stir until smooth as well. Then add the cream cheese and mash it until it homogenizes into the sauce. And now slowly add the shredded cheeses a little bit at a time. Continual stirring is the key to preventing the lumping of cheese. For the finishing touch to this sauce, add all of that excess butter sauce that's left in your frying pan after you removed the shrimp. Take all of that leftover garlic, bell pepper, seasonings and butter sauce and spoon it right into the cheese sauce for added flavor.
Now we're ready to cook the macaroni. Add a tablespoon of salt to a pot of water. Get the water boiling to a rolling boil. Add a box of macaroni. And cover for about five or six minutes to get an al dente consistency. Drain the pasta and set aside and quickly start working on the baking pan. You don't want to leave the pasta sitting out too long because it will start to cool and clump together.
Spoon all the macaroni into the baking pan. Now pour in all the cheese sauce and mix well. Add your shrimp and crab and mix together as well. Now take all of that excess garlic, bell pepper, seasonings and butter sauce from the frying pan and mix all of that right into the baking pan. All of this fried Creole seasoning, shrimp and garlic is going to infuse even more flavor into the mac and cheese. Next add the Italian sausage and mix well also. Generously sprinkle over more cheese on top. And add a few pieces of shrimp on the cheese for presentation. Lastly, sprinkle on some parsley and smoked paprika as a garnish. And bake at about 400 for about 25 minutes. Let it cool for about 10–15 minutes, and it's ready to serve!
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