Crab recipes can be both tedious and cumbersome, but the end results make it all worthwhile. So it is with Chef Manoj Sharma's delicious Cheesy Baked Crab.

The dish is loaded with bold flavours and can be paired with noodles or pasta.

Chef Manoj, who trained at Le Meridien, Chennai, and worked with the Taj hotels group, has over 20 years of experience under his belt. Pan-Asian and continental cuisines are his specialties.

Cheesy Baked Crab

Serves: 3

Ingredients

• 60 gm shredded crab meat, extracted from 3 freshly boiled crabs, reserve the crab shells
• 15 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 25 gm onion, finely chopped
• 15 gm garlic, finely chopped
• 15 gm celery, finely chopped
• 1 gm dried thyme
• 35 gm white sauce (please check the note below)
• 50 ml fresh cream
• 15-30 gm Parmesan cheese, grated
• Salt to taste, about 1 tsp
• ½ tsp black pepper powder

Method

• In a frying pan, heat the olive oil and add the chopped garlic, onion, celery.
  Add the shredded crab meat and saute for 1-2 minutes.
  Add the white sauce, cream.
  Continue cooking over low heat for 2 minutes.
  Season with thyme, salt, pepper.
  Finish with half of the grated Parmesan cheese.
  Take off heat.
• Preheat oven to 180°C.

To assemble

• Clean the crab shells.
  Spoon the stuffing into the shells.
  Sprinkle the remaining Parmesan cheese on top.
• Grill the stuffed crab shells for 10-15 minutes in the oven until the cheese melts and turns golden brown.
  Serve hot as a starter or along side buttered pasta.

Editor's Note: For the white sauce, warm 1 cup milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat with a ¼ of a small onion, 1 tej patta or bay leaf and 2 cloves.
Take off heat and let it infuse for 30 minutes.

In another saucepan, melt a 2 tsp butter over low heat. Add 2-3 tsp maida or all-purpose flour. Stir till you get a thick, smooth, lump-free paste.

Strain the milk to remove the onion, bay leaf and cloves, and stir it into the butter mixture and keep cooking for 5 minutes till a smooth, thick white sauce and take off heat.

Weight-watchers might like cut back on the cream and cheese in this recipe.

Chef Manoj Sharma is the executive chef at RCB Bar and Cafe, a pub owned by Diageo India in Bengaluru.

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