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CRAB AU GRATIN

Ingredients

Makes two or three servings.

Crab
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups of crab meat

Sauce
  • 2 tablespoons of butter or margerine
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons of flour
  • 1/2 cup of milk, more if needed
  • 2 tablespoons of dry sherry
  • 1/3 cup of shreded mild cheese -- Swiss, cheddar, jack, Colby, etc.
  • 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon of curry powder
  • 2 or 3 grinds of black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons of lemon juice (optional)
  • salt to taste, be careful -- salty ingredients!

Topping
  • 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese grated
  • 1 tablespoon of dry breadcrumbs, Panko works well for this
Crab au gratin

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Put the crab into a well-buttered gratin dish or a shallow baking pan. Make a roux from the milk, flour and butter, when it has thickened and is bubbling add the sherry, shreded cheese, Worcestershire sauce, curry powder and black pepper, and the lemon juice, if desired. Whisk until the cheese has melted. At this point the mixture should be thick, but pourable. If it's too thick whisk in more milk, a tablespoon at at time, until it is thinner. Spoon the sauce over the crab covering it completely; do not stir the sauce into the crab. Sprinkle the top with the Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. If it's bubbling but not brown on top put it under the broiler for 2 or 3 minutes.

Notes

For this recipe I use two snow crab clusters from the supermarket's fish counter. Picked well you get from a cup and a third to a cup and a half of lump, leg and claw meat. Many recipes call for lump crab meat only. I can't tell that it matters much. This is good served with hot buttered toast and a green salad.

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