Crab invasion in the Kitchen

Welcome to my crab shack..........

Once I set my mind on something, I am not easily swayed.  I found an AMAZING recipe in Food and Wine magazine that made my mouth water and my stomach ask for seconds just by reading the recipe and drooling all over the picture.  Having never made crab cakes, crab bisque or crab anything before, I had no idea that Jumbo Lump Crab meat was like, super expensive.  I mean, hell, you can eat a bottomless bucket of crab at Joe's Crab shack for like $12.99! So, needless to say, the $25 price tag for 16oz of the stuff plus another $10 for TRUFFLE BUTTER had me in the red before I even bought the brioche buns. Thus my love/hate relationship with Central Market.  $10 truffle butter, what is the matter with me. 

Regardless, this recipe was ridiculously good.  I was blown away by my mad kitchen skillz :) 

Brioche Crab Melts (makes 8 servings)
Recipe by Vitaly Paley
Ingredients

8 small, round brioche or buttery dinner rolls, split crosswise
6 tablespoons truffle butter or unsalted butter, softened (see Note)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup minced red onion
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 Granny Smith apple—quartered lengthwise, cored and thinly sliced crosswise
Several dashes of hot sauce ( I used Texas Champaigne)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pound lump crabmeat, picked over ( I used jumbo lump and chopped it up)
1 1/2 cups shredded Gruyère cheese

Directions

1.Preheat the broiler. Spread the cut sides of the brioche with the truffle butter and set on a baking sheet, cut sides up. Broil the rolls 6 inches from the heat, until toasted. Reduce the oven temperature to 400°.

2.In a large bowl, mix the mayonnaise, red onion, parsley, lime juice, apple and hot sauce and season with salt and pepper.

3. Fold in the crabmeat.  This can be made in advance and refrigerated overnight.

4.Set the top halves of the rolls aside. Top the bottoms with the crab salad and sprinkle with the Gruyère.

5.Bake in the upper third of the oven until the cheese is melted. Close the crab melts and serve.

I served the melts with a side of Macaroni salad from Albertson's since I blew my grocery budget and it was all i could afford.....

Also, because I only know how to cook for a family of 5 for some reason, and I find it very difficult to halve a recipe especially when 1/3 is involved, I made way too much.   So Sunday, I made crab benedict with home made hollandaise.....and.....if it is at all possibly, I am pretty sure my lovely husband loved me more at that moment, then he did on our wedding day.  Lucky me :)