Let's Dive Right In

Holiday season in Northern California means dungenous crab season. I live just a half hour drive from the coast, so it’s almost unavoidable to come across fresh-caught live crab. Still, even though current prices are outstanding, it’s still something of an extravagance. So, when I was recently gifted a freshly cooked crab, I was determined to make the most of it.
In my opinion, dungenous crab is by far the best domestic crab, if not the world. I’ve had Alaskan King, blue, and even Maryland soft shell just flown in and still crawling around in the shipping crate. Perhaps coconut crab has a chance to beat it given its ultra high fat content. Anyone know where I can get my hands on some coconut crab?
My goal was a 3 course meal for two from this one crab. I cleaned and cracked the crab, keeping the body meat separate from the leg and claw meat. I was also able to extract about 2 tablespoons of the “butter”, which is located in the upper shell, close to front. I knew I’d be serving the leg and claw meat very simply so as to not mask the flavor. The crab butter I’d incorporate into a light sauce to toss with pasta. I quickly came up with a recipe to use for the body meat (3.5 oz total), something that would be hot, bubbly and rich and provide something warming against the weather which had just turned bitter cold. As it turned out, all the dishes were very good (which means I didn’t kill the crab) but the gratins proved to be a surprise hit so that’s the recipe I’m putting up as my first contribution. I think this is also the most versatile as it would work very well with canned crab. As of this posting, I’ve made this recipe twice, both times it was very well received.

Crab Gratins
Ingredients:
3.5oz crab meat - more or less
2oz cream cheese
2tbsp mayonnaise
2tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 medium sized jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed, then diced
1 tsp milk
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
2 dashes Tabasco sauce
pinch of salt and pepper
bread crumbs to top
olive oil for drizzling


Combine all ingredients in a bowl, gently stirring in the crab meat until all ingredients are combined. In this case, I filled two single serving ramekins (about 1/3 cup each) or a single casserole dish of appropriate size will do. Chill for one hour. When ready to bake, top with bread crumbs and drizzle with olive oil or melted butter and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly and bread crumbs have browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes, so the gratin comes together and then serve with French bread or crackers.

For anyone who has questions on the crabbutter pasta, let me know and I'll post how I put that together. It's not so much a recipe as it is working with what you have.