Crawfish Cornbread

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mardi Gras season!  We spent part of Fat Tuesday at the lake, getting the new to us lake place habitable. I am unsure how much I believe those people who talk about how relaxing a lake house is, because so far all I have done is worked my tail off there.  Maybe soon it will be enjoyable.  So on this day of fun and frivolity we were working, but we did stop at Hamburger Heaven for a late lunch on the way home, so I guess there was a tiny bit of fun.

Tonight we decided to have a traditional Cajun dinner, but I was tired and didn't want to do a ton of chopping and stirring and simmering and... so, we cheated and had Zatarin's red beans and rice and I made crawfish cornbread.  To be honest the Zatarin's beans and rice is almost as good as I make from scratch and it is ready in about 35 minutes, compared to cooking the homemade version for most of the day. I did want make  something  and I found a recipe online for the cornbread, but I altered it a good bit so I am just posting the recipe as I made it.

Crawfish Cornbread

1 onion chopped
1 bell pepper chopped
3 green onions sliced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 8 ounce packet of cornbread mix
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup buttermilk or 1/4 cup buttermilk powder and 1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 can Rotel tomatoes, undrained
1/2 lb. frozen crawfish tail meat, thawed
3 tablespoons melted butter
grated cheese to taste ( I used about 3 tablespoons)

In a small skillet saute the onions and bell pepper in olive oil until they are wilted but not browned.  Set aside.  Mix the cornbread mix, the cornmeal, buttermilk powder ( if using), baking powder and baking soda.  Combine well and then add the egg, buttermilk ( if using), water ( if using buttermilk powder) and the Rotel tomatoes.  Stir to mix well then add the vegetable mixture and the crawfish.  Stir again until everything is evenly incorporated.  Bake at 400 degrees in a greased 9x13 pan. Check after 20 minutes.When well set remove from the oven and pour the melted butter on top of the baked bread.  Sprinkle the cheese on it and return to oven until the cheese melts ( about 1-2 minutes)  Serve hot with additional butter, cocktail sauce or tarter sauce. ( Or use all 3 if that is what you want!)

This was a pretty good addition to the meal.  It had a light crawfish flavor and tasted a bit like a baked hushpuppy.  The 3 tablespoons of cheese was unnecessary and next time I won't use it, but if you really like a cheese topping I would suggest using 1/2-1 cup of grated cheese so you could really taste it.

If you like a sweetened cornbread  use something like Jiffy Cornbread Mix.  If you prefer your cornbread more on the savory side use something like  Martha White  cornbread mix.  Since it is a personal choice I will refrain from any comment except to quote a movie line from an old film. ( Wish I could remember the name of it)  2 dudes were talking about the changing southern life and one said to the other " Your grandsons will be eating cornbread that's sweet and tea that ain't"

This is going on our rotation when we need a little bit added to the meal.  Since this makes a lot of cornbread I might try to half the recipe next time, except I will still use 1 egg since no hens I know of lay half eggs.

Now I am off to indulge in something chocolaty and fudgy before the midnight official start of Lent.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

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