Last night we had a little change up of plans, we were dining out with dear friends, but have moved our reservations to next Saturday, same place, same time, same good friends. So with this little alteration in plans I decided to cook something at home instead of dining out.
I had crawfish and Portobello mushrooms in the fridge and the makings of a delicious salad so I got to work on the menu. What I came up with was crawfish stuffed Portobello mushroom with Havarti cheese with dill, crawfish and pesto served over roasted spaghetti squash and a spinach, strawberry salad with feta cheese, walnuts and a home made raspberry vinaigrette dressing. I purchased a few of the spaghetti squash, those are the more yellow skins shown below, I got one from a neighbor and it was much more of a cream color, that was the only difference I found in them, they both cooked up deliciously and tasted the same, the lighter one was just a tad bit lighter once cooked.
I cut the spaghetti squash in half, took out the seeds and rubbed butter all over it, sprinkled it with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt and put it in the oven for 35 minutes at 375 degrees.
I didn’t get another shot of the cooked squash before I scraped it out into a bowl but it was golden brown on top and tender enough to scrape easily with a fork. I fluffed it up as I scraped it to give it a nice texture to it before topping with crawfish and pesto stuffing. I sprinkled a little more salt and black pepper on it before serving.
The crawfish mixture was very easy to make, I heated a little less than 1/4 cup of olive oil in a pan along with 1 tablespoon of butter, I added one large clove of garlic that I chopped very fine and a half of a yellow onion also chopped finely. After cooking that over medium heat for about six minutes until the garlic an onion were clear and golden brown, I added in the crawfish and sauteed it until it was fully cooked, which took about five minutes over medium heat. I seasoned with black pepper and sea salt before adding 3 to 4 tablespoons of half and half and cooked another minute, the milk, butter, oil and crawfish juices made a nice little sauce. I turned off the heat and added 1/4 of a block of Philadelphia cream cheese, I mixed until the cream cheese was dissolved completely. I spooned it into a bowl and let it stand while I got my mushrooms prepped and made my pesto. I’ve been told that you shouldn’t add the salt to seafood until you’ve cooked it because it causes the natural waters in the seafood to drain out of it and make it rubbery, so that’s how I always cook mine.
While my squash were roasting I was also prepping my mushrooms before filling them with the crawfish mixture. I removed the stems and brushed the tops of the mushrooms clean before placing them on a foil covered baking pan and sprinkled them with olive oil. I allowed them to cook for ten minutes in the 375 degree oven, I then removed the pan and using paper towels I absorbed all of the juices that collected in the centers and replaced them in the oven for an additional ten minutes before removing to repeat the juice absorbing process again. After I’d patted them quite dry I set them aside while I made my pesto and sliced the Havarti cheese to top the stuffed mushrooms.
The next thing I did was make fresh pesto using the same recipe I used earlier this summer which you can find on HERE on my blog. One thing I did this time was leave larger pieces of shaved parmesan cheese in the pesto.
The next thing I did was spoon two heaping tablespoons of the crawfish mixture into the mushrooms. A little more or less depending on the size of the mushroom.
Next I topped them with a few strips of Havarti with dill cheese slices.
I then popped them back into the oven which was still 375 degrees for about two and a half minutes until the cheese was all gooey and melted on the top. The smell at this point was truly divine!
While those rested I put together the salad, I’d made the raspberry dressing earlier with fresh raspberries, sugar, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. It turned out very nice, light and fruity, more fruity than oily or vinegary.
Assembling the salad was quick and easy. I just tossed the baby spinach into a bowl and topped it with the berries, walnuts and feta, we drizzled the dressing on as we served our individual salads.
I mixed about two tablespoons of pesto into the remaining crawfish mixture before spooning a heap of it onto the top of a bed of spaghetti squash. The flavors were really good together and it was a light but filling entrée.
We enjoyed a little Moscato wine with our supper and it was a nice addition to the meal.
If you have any questions about the recipes, or need/want clarification just leave a comment below and I will answer asap. I hope y’all all have a very happy Sunday!
