4 Feb 2016

DUNGENESS CRAB MORNAY THE ULTIMATE COMFORT FOOD

Oh my days, this is comfort food for the soul, mind and not so for the body!  Just gotta be eaten with a spoon so you can get most, the maximum in your mouth every time, but eat it slow and savour every mouthful as this is a rich and decadent treat and not a large portion as you just won't be able to manage it all!

Prep Time 5-20 minutes / Cooking Time 20 minutes
(20 minutes if you a removing meat from a whole fresh crab)


Ingredients
(serves 2-4)

135g Gruyere grated
20g Parmesan finely grated
pinch sea salt
100g white crab meat room temperature
50g brown crab meat optional room temperature 

The Roux Mornay
25g butter
25g flour
1 tsp English mustard powder
200-300ml rich full fat creamy milk
1 shallot diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 clove

First to make the mornay, bring the milk up to almost a simmer, add the shallot, bay, white pepper and clove, take off the heat and leave to infuse for ten minutes or so, meanwhile melt the butter over a medium heat and stir in the flour, keep stirring and cook out the roux on a low heat for around five minutes.  Strain the milk infusion into a jug and start to pour into the roux around 50ml at a time whisking thoroughly to remove any lumps, don't panic if you have lumps, these will whisk out as the roux incorporates the milk, stop adding milk once you have a thick sauce that slowly runs off the spoon, a bit like honey.  On a really low heat cook the mornay sauce for around 20 minutes, this is to further cook out the flour flavour, then add the all the cheese but hold back a couple of table spoons for dusting the tops of the mornay with.  Once all the cheese has been stirred in and incorporated into a smooth velvety sauce leave on a really low heat to keep the sauce soft while you assemble the next stage.

Take your serving dishes, I used a le creuset ramekin which was small but deep, this made this dish more deeply decadent, you could also use slightly shallower dishes which would then make this a very gorgeous starter and would serve four instead of two.  I am too greedy and wanted the volume overload where I struggle to finish the last two spoonfuls...A little naughty release from my paleo lifestyle...

Place a layer of the mornay in your serving ramekin, then a layer of crab meat, repeat two or three times, then finish off the top layer of mornay with a sprinkling of the reserved cheese, pop under the grill for around five minutes to brown off the top and keep the heat in the ramekin.  Serve immediately and enjoy with a spoon!  This would also go really well dolloped on the edge of a lovely slice of fresh sour dough, enhancing that mouthful of gorgeousness, this I don't do anymore but boy oh boy it does look good and in my distant memory it was good !!!


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