Crab Recipes

Scroll below for recipes for:

Crab and Leek Pot Pie: Courtesy, Kennedyville Inn
Crab and Mango Tartar: Courtesy, Sputnik Café
Ben's Mom's Crabcake

Crab & Leek Pot Pie
Courtesy: The Kennedyville Inn

2 carrots, peeled, med. dice
3 stalks celery, med. dice
1 small onion, med. dice
1 bunch leeks, washed and sliced
1 russet potato, peeled and cut into med. dice
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 T butter
3 T flour
3 T butter
1 quart good quality stock
pinch of cayenne
salt and pepper to taste
8 leaves basil, cut into chiffonade
8 oz. crabmeat

1 recipe tart dough (follows)
1 egg for eggwash

Sauté vegetables in butter until just softened. Add the three tablespoons of butter and flour. Cook for about 3 minutes to take the raw taste from the flour. Add the stock and seasonings and whisk to ensure there are no lumps from the flour. Cook over medium heat until vegetables are tender and stock has thickened slightly.

Adjust seasonings. When slightly cooled, add the chiffonade of basil.

Divide crabmeat between dishes that the pot pie will be baked in. Add vegetable sauce to fill. Top with a round of tart dough rolled out to about an 1/8 inch thick. Cut an x in the top of the crust. Brush crust with eggwash. Bake at 425º about 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Crab and Mango Tartar

Courtesy the Sputnik Café, Crownsville

Horseradish Vinaigrette:

1/8 cup grated horseradish
2 tbsp mustard, wholegrain
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sambaal oleek
1 tsp diced garlic
1⁄4 cup lime juice
1⁄2 cup canola oil

Put all ingredients except oil in blender and purée. Drizzle in oil and emulsify. Toss following ingredients with horseradish vinaigrette:

4 oz. Jumbo lump crab
1 tbsp Diced red onion
1 tbsp Diced mango

If desired, place mixture in small ring mold such as cookie cutter. Unmold on plate and surround with crackers or matzah. Serve with crisp, cold white such as Sauvignon Blanc or Grüner Veltliner.

Ben’s Mom’s Crabcake Recipe
Courtesy: Ben Dize

White sauce?! “Yes, it’s more work to do them this way,” says Ben Dize, “but it’s worth the effort. The recipe is his mother’s, who wrote it out differently for him each time. Here’s the time-tested version:

Ingredients:

    * 1 lb. Maryland crabmeat
    * 1 stalk celery, chopped fine
    * 1⁄2 medium green pepper, chopped fine
    * 1 small onion, chopped fine
    * 1 egg
    * Crust from one slice of white bread, shredded
    * 1 cup of white sauce
    * Old Bay seasoning to taste
    * 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
    * 1 tsp. dry mustard
    * cracker meal for coating
    * oil for frying

Basic White Sauce (makes one cup)

    * 1 Tb. butter
    * 1 Tb. flour
    * 1 cup whole milk
    * Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in small saucepan. Add flour and stir until mixture takes on a golden consistency. Add milk slowly, whisking constantly, until smooth and thickened.

For the crabcakes:

Prepare basic white sauce (see above). Clean and remove cartilage of crabmeat. Handle lightly, without breaking up chunks. Put in large bowl. Chop celery, green pepper fine. Beat egg lightly with fork. Take one egg and pour it onto the crabmeat and gently mix in celery, onion and green pepper. Add bread crust. Add cup of white sauce. Gently mix together. Add Old Bay to taste, Worcestershire sauce, and some dry mustard (about a teaspoon). Spoon out enough for a small burger-sized crabcake. Coat it with cracker meal and fry to a golden brown. A pound of crabmeat makes about 8 crabcakes.