Pasta has always been a must for me, especially as a competitive distance runner, the carbohydrates from pasta was always a must the night before a race or a long training run. In this recipe I’ve combined a hint of Louisiana with a lot of cheesy goodness stuffed inside pasta. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 12-ounce bag of clean cooked crawfish tails
• 1/4 stick of melted margarine (optional)
• 1/2 cup of chopped sweet onion
• 1/2 cup of fresh or thawed chopped broccoli tops
• 1 tbsp. minced garlic
• 1tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. Cajun seasoning
• 1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
• 1 8-ounce pack of softened cream cheese
• 1 jar of garlic alfredo
• 1/2 cup grated mild cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
• 1 box of large pasta shells
• 1 tbsp. parsley topped for garnish (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

This recipe was created from me digging around the kitchen pantry to put something together for dinner years ago. Since I first started stuffing pasta shells, I’ve used chicken, shrimp and ground beef as well as crawfish. By all means make adjustments, additions or subtractions as necessary.

First, I boiled the pasta according to the directions on the box, stirring gently so you don’t tear the shells when they boil. I also preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Next, I mix my ingredients for the stuffing adding just about everything listed above except the shells, but I save some crawfish to use as topping at the end. I only add a quarter of the jar of alfredo to the stuffing mixture and one quarter of the jar to coat the bottom of my 9×13 baking dish. Once everything is mixed, I start stuffing the shells and lining them up in the pan.

Once I’ve filled the pan with the stuffed shells, I top it off with the remaining alfredo sauce, the remaining crawfish tails and lightly cover with some grated cheddar cheese.

I bake them uncovered at 375 degrees for 35 minutes and let it cool for a few minutes before serving. I usually serve it with garlic or French bread on the side. Enjoy!