Cajun pasta by BoWilliams.com

Disclaimer 1:  Everything I know about Cajun cuisine is from restaurants or displaced natives. I’ve never set foot in Louisiana.

So I don’t know how authentically “Cajun” this is. However, its spiritual predecessor is Fettuccine New Orleans, which was one of my standing orders when Melanie and I would go to Mozzarella’s at dearly-departed Madison Square Mall.

Disclaimer 2:  This isn’t health food. This is a BoWilliams.com Certified Ridiculous™ recipe.

You shouldn’t eat like this all the time. But it’s a fine occasional treat in most diets.

Cajun pasta! (Click for a closer look.)

You will need:

  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 white onion
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 lb. Conecuh sausage
  • 1 lb. chicken breast fillets
  • 2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning (my favorite is Hyman’s)
  • 1/2 cup Louisiana hot sauce (ditto)
  • 1 pint heavy cream
  • 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 1 16-oz. package fettuccine
  1. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces and put into plastic bag or dish. Add Cajun seasoning and hot sauce and mix well. Put in refrigerator to marinate for 1-2 hours.
  2. Cook sausage in a skillet over medium-low heat, turning every 8-10 minutes until done. Set aside to cool.
  3. Dice bell pepper and onion. Sauté in large skillet (as in, this is going to be your sauce pan) with butter and black pepper over medium heat until onion is translucent.
  4. Add chicken and all marinade to pan. Stir frequently until chicken is done.
  5. Slice sausage into bite-size pieces and add to pan.
  6. Add heavy cream to pan and stir. Reduce heat to medium-low.
  7. Add Parmesan cheese gradually and stir until sauce thickens to your preference. (Generally I find that between a half-cup and a cup of Parmesan is necessary.) Stir occasionally until the pasta is ready.
  8. Prepare fettuccine according to package directions.
  9. Top fettuccine with sauce and enjoy!

This is one of my family’s favorite things that I make. If it’s all four of us, then we eat quite a bit of it, leaving only a serving or so as leftovers. For the non-gluttonous, it’s a reliable 6-8 servings.

Notes:

  • If you want a little additional color, chopped green onions are a nice enhancement to the plated dish.
  • You can put shrimp in it too, though I left them out of the canonical recipe because Lea doesn’t like them in it. Add them cooked and late (like when you put the pasta on).
  • I find there is plenty of salt and garlic in the recipe from the sausage, the Cajun seasoning, and the hot sauce, so I don’t add any. Taste the final sauce and add as desired, particularly if you use different varieties of these ingredients.
  • This is relatively tame as listed, but I’ve made it much hotter. If you want to amp it up, cayenne pepper is effective.

Enjoy!

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