Crawfish Cornbread
Crawfish cornbread is one of those things I took for granted growing up. It was common. It never grew tired. It was delicious. I could never eat enough of it.
I’ve always been self-conscious about food I make for people because I want them to genuinely like it. As much as I love cooking for others, I get nervous when they go for the first bite. Thankfully, this dish is one I never need to worry about.
The recipe became sort of a signature of mine while I was in grad school. It became quite the requested item and my stash of crawfish dwindled to zero. Crawfish was nowhere to be found in Athens and I was talked into substituting shrimp for the crawfish. Nope. Bad life choice. It was not the same nor was it as tasty. The other people familiar with the dish also had the same assessment.
I’ve shied away from posting this recipe on my blog because it contains … Jiffy cornbread mix. It was a bit of principle issue for me. Even my dear ole dad gave me a hard time about it. However, for the last couple of years I made a lot of crawfish cornbread from scratch because the world needs crawfish cornbread and I was bound and determined from scratch would be better. Honestly, it fell flat every time.
I was surprised for a few reasons: 1) I’m not in the sweet cornbread fan club and Jiffy is definitely sweet b) there is no way a mix could be better than homemade (and I do make a mean cornbread if I say so myself) c) despite trying several methods of prep, none of them had the correct texture. I even attempted to make it more “Cajun” by including the Trinity. Nope. Nada. Sometimes the OG (even if it includes Jiffy cornbread) is simply the best.
I normally would include this type of thing in the notes, but I know most of you don’t read the notes. Shallots in this recipe are green onions. Do not use the purple bulbs. My people call green onions shallots and it seemed sacrilegious to call them green onions in this recipe. I am not responsible if you use the wrong seasoning.
Crawfish Cornbread Ingredients
1 c chopped shallots
1 c chopped onion
1 can Rotel
3 eggs
1 cup Colby cheese, grated
1 lb crawfish tails
1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
8 Tbl butter, melted
Crawfish Cornbread Directions
Preheat oven to 350.
Lay the shallots down horizontally with the green tips towards your dominant hand. Hold the root end down with your non-dominant hand. Slice thinly from the green tops to the white part. Stop right before the root. Put 1 c of chopped shallots in a large bowl.
Cut off the two ends of the onion. Slice it in half pole to pole. Lay it flat side down. Thinly slice it pole to pole then cross ways. Add 1 c of chopped onion to the bowl.
Add the can of Rotel, three eggs, and cheese to the bowl.
If your crawfish is older or you don’t know how fresh it is, put it in a colander and rinse the fat off. Old fat goes bad and will leave you with a bad after taste. Add it to the bowl and mix well.
Sprinkle the cornbread on top of the onion mixture. Drizzle the melted butter on top and mix until full incorporated.
Butter a 9x13” Pyrex dish. Bake about 45-50 minutes. The top should brown slightly and start to pull away from the sides. Allow to cool about 15 minutes. Cut into squares. Serve warm or slightly above room temperature.
Notes
You can add a chopped serrano pepper if you want a little spice. The cornbread should not be peppery.
Shallots in this recipe are green onions. Do not use the purple bulbs. My people call green onions shallots and it seemed sacrilegious to call them green onions in this recipe. I am not responsible if you use the wrong seasoning.
