Leftover Crab Meat

The Chow Poodle and I had our traditional New Year's Day meal of King Crab Legs on Monday and, believe it or not, we actually had some leftover crab meat. I'm looking for some ideas for what to prepare with the leftovers, which we want to use up tonight. Does anyone have a good recipe for me? Maybe a crab meat gratin?

One of my many New Year's Resolutions is to not throw out crustacean shells before I've made a stock with them. Don't know what quantity you have, but a crab bisque could be an option (don't have recipes here, but they're abundant).

We made a very simple crab salad last night that consisted of a dressiong made of mayo, coarse mustard, parsley, lemon juice, scallions, celery. dash of Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Let sit for a 15 minutes. Served with a variety of crackers. I didn't have a good bread on hand to use, but the crackers were nice. This could easily be doctored up a little more.

We had a small amount leftover and Mary and I just had a mid morning snack.

I definitely 'second' the salad idea. capers would go well if you have a jar collecting dust in the fridge.

Or, if they are still in shell, wrap in a kitchen towel and drop them in hot water for a min or two just to reheat, and enjoy again with some butter and lemon.

If you are a maki roller, and have rice and seaweed and other sushi stuffs you like, you know what to do.
My fav is the spicy mayo:
about 1/2 cup of REAL mayo
tablespoon of sesame oil.
2 tsp of hot chili sesame oil (or just more of the red pepper blend below)
Healthy sprinkle of ichmi togarashi or any red pepper blend, really.

I'd do your crab with julienned cuke slices, spicy mayo, tobiko or masago and avocado. Maybe some good leaf lettuce if it was avail.

On the salad note-a seviche of sorts with lime juice, olive oil, fresh green chile, good olives, tomato, onion, cilantro, cuke served on lettuce leaves, tostadas, etc.
Why the hell is everyone ignoring your request for gratin?

I could be wrong, but to me, gratin implies cheese. My upbringing from east coast in a seafood fiending family has instilled a general rule in my head: cheese + seafood = wrong. I'm not saying it can't be the most delicious thing in the world - I'm just saying that it generally does not even cross my mind to put the two together, and I would never make or ask to get something that had both cheese and seafood in it.

seebee wrote:I could be wrong, but to me, gratin implies cheese. My upbringing from east coast in a seafood fiending family has instilled a general rule in my head: cheese + seafood = wrong. I'm not saying it can't be the most delicious thing in the world - I'm just saying that it generally does not even cross my mind to put the two together, and I would never make or ask to get something that had both cheese and seafood in it.

I would have agreed with you until a few years ago when I tried the scallop gratinee at Mon Ami Gabi. Tender sliced sea scallops, a touch of bechemel, topped with Gruyere and broiled. Truly divine.

Flip

Steve, hands down, crab enchilado. Fry down several red bell peppers or good jarred pimentos (hungarian, slightly hot work well) in olive oil with some garlic, maybe a can of tomato paste or a jar of passata, Spanish olives, capers, a pinch of cumin, hot paprika, black pepper, sherry vinegar, some dry red wine, some sugar (if needed) a bay leaf, the crab shells, sriracha to taste (my spin). Cook down, remove the bay and shells, add the crab, cook a bit more, serve over rice or pasta, or with crusty bread. Makes a great filling for empanadas or croquettes (Devil Crab in FL)... Trust me, one of the great leftover dishes.

Shellfish lends itself to some association with cheese more than fish itself. A neat Mexican specialty found in 2 regions is cheese stuffed shrimp wrapped in bacon and served with rich chipotle mayo. (But this doesn't help Steve either.) I guess I just don't care for cooked crab preparations-not even good crabcakes.

When I have a little bit of crab, I make pasta sauce with it, some cream and butter, maybe white wine, and seasoning to taste.

Crab cakes anyone? No brainer, far as I'm concerned! My highest and best use for leftover (?!) crab meat. Oh boy!

Geo

On a whim I threw together a crab quiche last summer and it was probably the best quiche I've had in quite a while! Perfect for leftover crabmeat, recomend corn, onions/scallions and a very mild cheese-

I was just thinking quiche. Sounds yumm-o to me.