Last week brought me an incredible new discovery of culinary delight: crab meat quiche. I had never heard of this dish before, but some friends brought my grandma a whole mess of crab meat and she immediately hauled out her recipe book and set me to work.

After struggling just a bit with crisis in confidence about the crust, I managed to put together my very first quiche. It turned out so well! This is a great dish for an old fashion coastal meal for the entire family. The quiche is rich and fluffy, the crab meat salty and flavorful. I had planned on taking a bunch of pictures of the finished product, but the family tucked into it before I got a whole lot accomplished. That’s pretty high praise!

To start this recipe, you’ll need a crust. Grammy’s recipe doesn’t include instructions for the crust so you can either buy or whip up your own. As mentioned before, this was the part of the process that tripped me up. My aunt brought me dough from her refrigerator and I tried to roll it out when it was too cold. It crumbled everywhere and I was sure I had ruined it. Grammy saved the day by having me wet my hands with warm water before working the dough into a ball over and over until it was warm enough to stay together.

The point being: make sure that your dough is room temperature before you try to do anything with it. When it’s ready, roll the dough out until it can fit into a 9 inch pie dish and cover all the sides. You don’t have to precook the crust.

Next you have to find yourself some crab meat.

As always, freshness is really important when eating shellfish. Prepackaged crab would serve in a pinch, but the most authentic seafood experiences should include the boiling and picking of the crab. Crabs are boiled much like lobsters are, but getting the meat out is a slightly different process. To help, I found a video that I’m going to share with you. The young man is quite eloquent and explains the process really well.

Once you’ve got your crab meat and your crust, you’re ready to prepare the quiche. The notes in my grandma’s recipe say that you should check it like one would a pie to see if it has finished. She also said that you could cook the onions a little ahead of time, but added, “I don’t.” So, do with that what you will. Lol!

Crab Meat Quiche Recipe

Ingredients:

1/3 cups mayonnaise

2 Tablespoons flour

2 beaten eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 2/3 cups crab meat (or more)

8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup diced onions

1 pie crust

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350℉.

2. In a medium bowl, mix mayonnaise, flour, eggs and milk until well blended.

3. Stir in drained crab meat, cheese and onions.

4. Pour mixture into the pie crust.

5. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.