Maggie Monday: Crab Pie

Feeling a little crabby? Me too. Maggie is a different kind of crabby. Take a look…

Here in Virginia, Blue Crab is plentiful. We are soooo lucky. I have a favorite recipe for Crab Imperial made with Smithfield Ham that I’ll share soon. But I came across this recipe on Hotsaucedaily.com. It sounded simple- which is import with crab. In a crab dish the crab must be the star.

Even though we live almost 3 hours from the shore, Virginia is still a coastal state, and most cities in the mountains and valleys have great Seafood shops. Staunton has a great one called Maurice’s. Maurice makes crab cakes, deviled crab, and other fish cakes by hand. He also bakes up his own Virginia Hams and makes great ham salads and deviled ham. I love being from Virginia. If you want fresh crab meat for the weekend, you have to call Maurice by Noon on Tuesday. Then pick up your bounty on Friday. Fresh from the Chesapeake Bay. So. Darn. Good.

In all of my travels, I’ve never seen Crab Pie on a menu. But any dish is improved with pastry crust, right? This was great. It makes two 9” pies, so can feed a crowd. Or just two of our three sons. Son #1 consumed 6 slices, and Son #3 at least 5 slices. They scraped the last bit out of both plates. It was a hit.

This is a great entrée when you have a crowd to fee- quick and easy to make, and seems fancy. Definitely a company-worthy meal. Get some nice fresh crabmeat, and invite folks over for a feast!

Crab Pie

What you need:

• 2- 9″ deep pie crusts (pre-baked 7 minutes and cooled)
• 1 lb. lump or back fin crab meat
• 4 eggs
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup whole milk
• 8 oz. shredded Swiss cheese
• 8 oz. shredded Cheddar cheese
• 2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
• 1- Tbsp. finely chopped onion

What you do:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350º – par bake your crust for 3 minutes. I used Pillsbury pie dough and it worked out great.
2. Combine eggs, flour, mayonnaise and milk, mix well. Add remainder of the ingredients (except crab meat) and mix well.
3. Fold in crab meat and try not to separate the lumps of crab meat too much. Pour into 2 separate pie crusts, sprinkle with additional Old Bay Seasoning.
   
4. Bake at 350º for 50 minutes or until knife comes out clean. (Check at about 40 minutes to avoid burning, since ovens vary)