Cooking:Crab au Gratin

I had a pound of Dungeness crab in my fridge that needed to be consumed, and so I decided to make a Louisiana Blue Crab Gratin, but sub out the blue with my Dungeness. I set out all the ingredients (chopped shallot and red onion and green onion, celery, parsley as well as flour, Panko, grated Gruyere and Swiss--all odds and ends left in my fridge) I also needed dry white wine (to drink and de-glaze) condiments like Louisiana hot sauce, Creole seasoning, and nutmeg. And some radishes from the garden to munch while I cooked.

 

I sautéed the aliums in butter, and then deglazed it with the wine.

 

I then added the cream and milk and cheeses and continued whisking and really I should have omitted the milk because it was liquid enough.

I then added the condiments of Worcestershire, hot sauce, Cajun spice and nutmeg. Next time I need to taste the roux after each addition of spice because it was all way too salty (my Creole spice has salt) in the finished gratin.

I simmered the béchamel and cheese (does that then make it Mornay sauce?) for some minutes. And then whisked some more before folding in the Dungeness crab.

 

It looked so gorgeous, and again I wish I had tasted it because I could have probably added lemon or decided to make it a crab macaroni and cheese to drastically cut down the salt. I sprinkled panko crumbs before popping in a 400 degree oven.

I baked the crab dip for 12 minutes. I thought the mixture needed more browning and decided to broil it along with a couple slices of sourdough sandwich bread (I had no baguette and made do).

 

In retrospect, maybe my usual crab, avocado and Swiss/Gruyere melt would've been a better meal with those ingredients, but I committed and aimed to follow through on a gratin and arranged the toast points, which looked clumsy and not artful at all.

Better, n'est-ce pas?

I repeat that if I even make this dish again, I'd do it a lot differently. Just hot sauce, and no Worcestershire sauce or Creole spice mix (both which made it way too salty). I still have half a container of Dungeness crab, and so it'll either turn into French bouillabaisse or a Thai fried rice this weekend.