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 !!!