3 pounds of crawfish (buy it cooked and cleaned at a good fish counter or market, it’s way easier)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves sliced thinly
3 jalapeno peppers, cored, seeded and chopped
1 pound ripe plum tomatoes
Pappardelle
¼ cup basil (if using fresh double it)
zest of 1 lemon
salt and pepper

Pick through the crawfish meat and discard any shells that might be left.

Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil and add salt to water.

In a frying pan, heat olive oil until almost but not quite smoking.  Add garlic, jalapenos and cook until garlic is light golden brown, 2 minutes or so.  Cut tomatoes into cubes.  Add tomatoes to pan with garlic and chiles.  Cook until soft and starting to turn into sauce.  8 to 10 minutes.  Lower to simmer while you cook pasta. 

Cook pappardelle according to package directions.  Drain. 

Toss the crawfish into the tomato sauce.  Then add pappardelle directly to sauce in pan and toss to coat over low heat.  Add basil and lemon zest and salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately. 

Adapted from Mario Batali (Simple Italian Food)