Nothing says NOLA like crawfish! This recipe has tasty crawfish tails (you can use fresh or frozen), crispy air-fried potatoes and a cayenne-cheddar mornay sauce, giving a perfect bite every time.

This recipe comes to us from Chef/Owner Brian Landry of Jack Rose, located at the Ponchartrain Hotel, St Charles Ave and Josephine St in the Lower Garden District. Chef Landry is a New Orleans native, a passionate chef, a supporter of regional foodways, and a dedicated conservationist of Gulf seafood.

Potatoes
1½ pounds small red potatoes, unpeeled
Salt and pepper

Put the potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water by 2 inches. Salt the water generously. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook the potatoes until tender, about 15
minutes. 

Drain the potatoes and let them dry in a colander for 5 minutes or so.

Place on the tray then use a large fork or potato masher to smash them, keeping them in one piece. Leave on the tray to dry for 5 minutes. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and
pepper.

Add the potatoes to the basket of an air fryer. Place the basket in the air fryer, and set the temperature to 400 degrees. Cook until well browned and crispy about 15 minutes.

Crawfish
1 pound crawfish tails
1 ½ tablespoons crab boil spice
2 stalks celery, diced
1 each green bell pepper, diced
1 each yellow onion, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme,chopped
1 each lemon, zested
Salt

Season the crawfish tails with the crab boil spice. In a medium saute pan, sweat the vegetables in olive oil over medium-high heat until translucent. Add the garlic and cook until soft. Add the crawfish tails, fresh thyme, and lemon zest, and cook until crawfish tails are warmed through.

Cayenne Cheddar Mornay
4 ounces butter
4 ounces flour
1 quart milk
1 quart shredded cayenne cheddar (can substitute pepper jack cheese)
1 /12 tablespoons salt
In a 2-qt saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add flour and whisk to make a roux. Cook for 5 minutes making sure that the roux does not toast or turn brown. Whisk in milk a ½ cup at
a time, allowing to thicken each time between adding more. Once all milk is added and thickened properly, gradually add the cheese until fully incorporated. Remove from heat and season with salt.

Assemble
Place the air-fried potatoes in the bottom of a bowl. Spoon the crawfish tail mixture over the potatoes. Spoon the cheddar mornay over the crawfish and the potatoes. Serve.  Optional: garnish with shaved radish and herbs.