Crawfish Bacon Cheesecake
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Sometimes you come across food that folks will refer to as “stick to your ribs”. This is one of those recipes that will stick to your ribs, your arms, and your legs. Seriously, do not plan on eating anything else the rest of the day if you make this recipe. I’ve always been a fan of the idea of taking a dish that is usually thought of as sweet and making it savory. This is a prime example of that. So much so, that when you tell folks they’re about to eat a cheesecake with seafood in it, they give you quite the crazy look. But their fears will soon be assuaged because this recipe is freaking awesome.
A cool thing about this recipe is that the ingredients can be swapped a little bit. You will lose some of what makes it unique but if you don’t feel like running to the store it will be okay. For example, I use ritz crackers for the pie crust but if you have just a basic pie crust in the freezer that will be fine. Also, I like to use flavored cream cheese like Garden herb, tomato, or whatever savory flavor you can find. Alternatively, if you just have regular cream cheese, that will be fine as well.
As we have mentioned time and time again in our blog, when spring time rolls around and folks start boiling the mudbugs, you can usually count on some leftovers. So plan on saving some extra crawfish tails for this recipe. You will not regret it. Also…plan on some extra gym time the following week. You will need it after eating this bad boy.
Ingredients and Instructions
Crust
- 3 sleeves of Ritz crackers
- 4 tablespoons of butter
- 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
Combine all crust ingredients in a food processor and mix well.
Pour in a springform pan and push against the bottom and sides to form a crust. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Cheesecake
- 3 tablespoons of butter
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 small jalapeno diced
- 3/4 pound of crawfish tails peeled
- 1 head of garlic roasted
- 3 eight ounce containers of cream cheese at room temperature
- 8 ounces of cheddar cheese grated
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup green onions chopped
Melt butter in a skillet. Add onion and jalapeno. Saute until the veggies are nice and soft. Set aside.
Combine crawfish and roasted garlic in a food processor and pulse a few times until mixed well.
Add crawfish, garlic, cream cheese, and cheddar cheese in a bowl of stand mixer. Add onion and jalapeno mixture and combine well.
Add eggs and mix well. Pour mixture into springform pan. Spread gently and evenly throughout the crust.
Bake for about thirty minutes until the top is golden brown and the knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Sauce
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 pound of crawfish tails peeled
- 1 dash hot sauce 1 dash Worcestershire sauce
While the cake is baking, make your sauce.
Add cream to saucepan and reduce slightly. Add crawfish, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. Simmer a little bit then aside.
Top cake with sauce. Garnish with some green onions and enjoy warm!