Seafood Celebration

Knee deep in Lent, all of the fast food joints have been advertising fish sandwiches and fried shrimp.  Schools across my area--even the public ones--serve seafood for lunch on Fridays.  Local restaurants put out signs telling me that the crawfish are in.  They offer fried catfish, crawfish etouffee, or shrimp stew for Friday plate lunches.  Groceries reserve entire sections of their weekly ads for Lenten seafood specials.

It's a seafood celebration.

Which confuses me and always has.  I grew up in the Catholic church, my mom belonging to various church organizations.  Went to Catholic school from K-8th grades.  Plaid skirt and all.  Believe me, we were taught about Lent.  Silent, penitent Lent.  No celebrating, no hallelajuhs.

(But I really want to jump up and down and say hallelajuh over this creamy seafood sauce.)

In school we were asked to write what we were giving up for Lent on a slip of paper.  Fold it up.  Place it in a basket in church.  Serious business.  However, even in the holiest of places, jokers are still jokers.  A few wise guys decided to write things like "I'm giving up school."  "I give up homework."  "I will not pick my nose during Lent."  So then we had to place our slips of paper in a basket on the teacher's desk.  Teachers  scarier than catholic priests?  Well, I'm not going there.  The teachers handed out trips to the principal's office.

It was a mixed message.  A somber, holy reverence was expected at school.  But then everyone was attending crawfish boils all over South Louisiana come Friday night.  Loud, raucous crawfish boils with spicy mudbugs and cold beer.  And that, my friends, isn't much of a penance.

I always detected a certain giddiness in my dad on all those Lenten Friday nights.  Eager for
redfish courtbouillon
crawfish etouffee
mom's beer battered shrimp
or trout meuniere

After a few seafood meals under stretching our belts recently, I had leftover crab, shrimp, and crawfish.  But not enough of any one thing to make a meal.

One of my favorites at the restaurant where my brother works is Pasta Pontchartrain.  A creamy pasta with crab and shrimp--both of which can be caught in Lake Pontchartrain.

Starting with that idea and borrowing some tricks from Tessa Kiros' lovely lemony cream sauce, we had ourselves a winner.

And like most Louisiana Catholics, we enjoyed the hell outta the pasta.

Then felt immensely guilty afterwards.

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Bayou Pasta
1 Tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 c white wine
1 c heavy whipping cream
about 1/2 c cooked crab
about 1/2 c cooked shrimp (if large, chop to match pasta size)
about 1/2 c cooked crawfish
3/4 lb short, stubby pasta, such as penne, farfalle, or shells
Salt, pepper, and Tony's Creole Seasoning to taste
chopped parsley for garnish

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Melt butter over medium heat.  When foamy, add the garlic and lemon zest.  Saute for a few minutes.  Add the wine, increase the heat, and reduce by about 1/2.  Lower the heat back to medium or medium low.  Add the cream.  Stir in the lemon juice and season with salt, pepper, and Tony's.  Simmer the sauce until thickened.  Gently fold in the seafood and simmer until heated through.  Toss the pasta with the sauce.  Garnish with chopped parsley and a sprinkle of Tony's.

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Linking this week with:

Carole's Chatter: Food on Friday Pasta & Noodles theme