Maryland Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Happy Cinco De Mayo! Obviously, I'm a terrible blogger and totally forgot about it, so I don't have a Mexican fiesta planned for you today. I'll go sit in blogger time-out for a few minutes.

In the meantime, if you're still with me, you can read about something else totally delicious, if you're ok with it not being fiesta-themed!

In my previous post, I recounted our recent crab feast and what I did with a portion of the crab meat collected from our leftover crabs. While the soup used the claw meat and some of the smaller pieces of crab I collected, I saved a half pound of the best, largest chunks of meat for this next dish. I also mentioned before how I’m a crabcake snob, so I had thought about making my own with the meat I had set aside. My husband, however, doesn’t enjoy them, so I wanted to find something that we could both appreciate and eat. How about stuffing what is essentially a mini-crabcake into a baby bella mushroom? Score.


The recipe itself is straightforward enough and, again, it’s off the Cantler’s website. I soon found out, however that mushrooms are tricky little devils to balance. After realizing that no amount of steady-handedness would keep my mushrooms from tipping over onto my baking sheet, I devised a little plan to make ‘holders’ for each musroom using tinfoil. Smart, right? Well, yes and no. On some of the mushrooms, it worked fabulously. On others, they were still teetering dangerously, threatening to fall off the sheet at any moment. I pressed those down a little harder onto the foil, thinking that would solve my problems, opened the oven door and proceeded to tranfer the baking sheet from my countertop to the oven. I saw one mushroom on the corner of my pan begin to wobble. Which meant, instinctively, I cocked my wrist the opposite direction in an attempt to steady the dancing mushroom. While I successfully kept that mushroom on it’s stand, I watched, as if in slow motion, another mushroom on the other side tilt off it’s holder, roll off the baking pan and fall, splat, right onto the oven door. Crab stuffing side down.


You could hear the sizzle as soon as it made contact. So I did what any sane person would do, I scooped it all back up and shoved it back into the mushroom and put it on the pan again to bake. (And I made sure I ate that mushroom when it came time to serve!) It took everything I had not to lick up the few pieces stuck to the oven door, it was heartbreaking to have to wipe it up and toss those pieces out.


A few other mushrooms did tip over as well, but at least they stayed on the baking sheet. They tasted fantastic, but they sure weren’t the prettiest things to come out of my kitchen. That’s ok, I’ll eat them blindfolded if I have to, the taste was out of this world, and the gigantic pieces of crabmeat were so delicious, it made me forget about the pieces still stuck to my kitchen towel from cleaning up my oven.


As a note on this recipe, I didn’t make the topping because I didn’t want that much mayonnaise on my crabmeat, but I have included it in case that appeals to you. I did sprinkle with the paprika and Old Bay once they came out of the oven, though.

Maryland Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Adapted from Cantler's (again!)

Ingredients

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

1/2 pound Maryland backfin crab meat

3 Tbsp mayonnaise (i used Miracle Whip)

1 egg white

1 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon celery salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon paprika

pinch ginger

1 tablespoons cracker meal

12 fresh mushrooms (about 2-3 inches in diameter)

For the Topping:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 egg white

1/8 teaspoon seafood seasoning (aka old bay)

2 dashes liquid hot pepper

paprika, for sprinkling

Directions

Remove cartilage from crab meat, being careful not to break crab lumps. Place crab meat in large bowl and set aside.

In small bowl mix mayonnaise, egg white, milk, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, celery salt, pepper, paprika and ginger.

Pour sauce over crab meat and mix gently, but thoroughly. Carefully mix in cracker meal.

Wash and remove stems from mushrooms.

Place mushrooms in a baking pan stem side up and fill each mushroom with about 2 tablespoons crab mixture.

Place in a 375 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until crab meat mixture begins to brown.

If you choose to make the topping:

Mix together 1/2 cup mayonnaise, egg white, seafood seasoning and liquid hot pepper sauce.

Spread a generous amount of topping over each mushroom.

Sprinkle with paprika and bake in 375 degree oven until the topping becomes a light brown color, approximately 5 to 7 minutes.

Maryland Crab Soup

As many of your know, I am a Baltimore transplant to the Midwest. And while there are lots of regional specialties here that have stolen my heart (Garret’s Popcorn, anyone?) nothing can compare to the true summer glory that is the crab feast. There is nothing like picking crab meat, eating corn and potatoes and drinking a cold beer on a hot summer day. Another couple around here shares our love for crab feasts, and we decided we would order a half bushel of crabs from a retailer in Baltimore and have them shipped to us in Illinois. While we did a fair amount of damage to our half bushel (approximately 3 1/2 dozen crabs), we still had a fair amount of leftovers. Crab meat spoils fairly quickly, so I wanted to make the best of the leftovers by making some other Baltimore favorites I usually wouldn’t get otherwise. I guess, if I’m being honest, I could buy crab meat from Whole Foods or something, but I have a hard time paying 30 bucks for jumbo lump meat (which I believe it imperative to creating an outstanding crab dish). So while this is not a thrifty meal if you have to go out and buy the crab meat, I was lucky enough to be ‘forced’ to make these meals with my leftovers. What a pity ;)


The first step for me, because I wasn’t buying my crabmeat, was picking all the leftover crabs. I stood over my sink for over two hours picking nearly two dozen crabs clean. I ended up with almost two full pounds of crab meat by the time I was finished and a ton of cuts on my hands and fingers from the shells. If you’ve ever picked a crab, you know what I’m talking about. As tedious as picking crab meat can be, I still find it amazingly relaxing.

Maybe it’s a Baltimore thing.

If I had to rank crab dishes in an order of favorites, I’d have to say number one is steamed crabs, number two is a a *good* crabcake (which I am super picky about), and then you have Maryland Crab Soup. I am willing to admit I’m a snob when it comes to crabcakes. The good ones are going to almost always be expensive in comparison to the other foods on the menus because they will be made with jumbo lump crab meat. And I refuse to order a crab cake at a restaurant unless I know what I’m getting. Anytime we go to a seafood restaurant in Baltimore, someone will almost always order a crabcake. If it comes out and I find myself envious of their meal and jealous that I didn’t order it instead of my meal, then I know that my next trip there I will be ordering a crabcake. Few places make crabcakes that good. Almost all crab meat, with minimal fillers and breadcrumbs mixed in. And heaven forbid I get one little bit of shell in my crabcake. Something about biting into something smooth and luxe like crabmeat, only to be greeted with a chalky crunch of shell or cartilege between my teeth all but kills my appetite for the rest of the crabcake. Some places are a lot more careful than others about picking through their crabmeat before using it.


The first recipe I want to share is one of Maryland’s staples. Regardless of my snobbiness towards crabcakes, one thing I always order, pretty much regarless of location, is a cup of Maryland Crab Soup. It’s light and delicious and the soup highlights the sweet flavor of the crabmeat without overpowering it. I found this recipe off of the website of one of my favorite restaurants back home, Cantlers. The recipe seemed almost too easy to be true, but the taste was spot-on. I felt like I was dockside on the Chesapeake Bay. Crab soup is also the perfect vehicle for your less expensive crab meats – claw meat and lump crab. If you’re willing to splurge on the crabmeat, or happen to have leftover crabs from your last feast, give this a try, you won’t be sorry. But please, please, do not use the imitation crab meat. This is one of the few times that only the real deal will do.

Maryland Crab Soup

From Cantler's Website  (if you are ever near this restaurant, go there!)

 Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients

4 c low sodium chicken broth

3 pounds canned tomatoes, quartered (I used a 28 oz can and a 14.5 oz can)

1 cup frozen corn, thawed

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

1 large baking potato, diced

1 cup celery, chopped

1 cup onion, diced

1 tablespoon seafood seasoning (I used more like 3 Tbsp – and my seasoning of choice was, of course, Old Bay)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon lemon pepper

1 pound Maryland crabmeat, fresh or pasteurized, cartilage removed (regular or claw)

Directions

Place broth in a 6 quart soup pot and bring to simmer.

Add vegetables and seasonings and simmer, covered, over medium-low heat for about 45 minutes, or until vegetables are almost done.

Add crabmeat, cover, and simmer for 15 more minutes or until hot. (If a milder soup is desired, decrease amount of seafood seasoning to 1/4 -1/2 teaspoons.)