One of my inspirations for starting this blog was my discovery of Kosher Imitation Crab. I love crab and had really missed having it in my new Kosher life, when I discovered a Kosher crab option. I experimented with a fake crab salad and also making Sushi/California rolls. But I hadn’t done much else with it because let’s face it, not a lot of Kosher cookbooks include recipes that call for crab meat. I finally broke down last week and pulled out a very old copy of a Southern Living cookbook (1987) and found lots of interesting recipes for crab meat, as well as something called Squirrel Fricassee. While I probably won’t be looking for a Kosher substitute for squirrel anytime soon, I did get very excited about all of the crab meat ideas.

I decided to try one of my newly found recipes out last night at a family Hanukkah gathering. I made a Crab Meat Quiche and a Mushroom Quiche (Thanks for the Quiche suggestion from Jamie Kreitman). The Crab Quiche is on the left in the photo and the Mushroom one is on the right. Both were delicious but the Crab Meat Quiche was definitely a bigger hit than the Mushroom one. The Mushroom Quiche did not get as solid as I would have liked so it had a bit of a mushy consistency. I might try adding some flour to that recipe if I ever make it again. If you’re interested in the mushroom recipe, let me know and I’ll share it with you.

If, like me, you are ready to have some more crab meat in your life, here’s details for the Crab Quiche:

Kosher Imitation Crab Quiche
(1987 Southern Living Cookbook, page 218)

Ingredients:

Pastry for 9-inch pie (I bought the ready-made pie crusts that can be found in the frozen dessert section at the grocery store)
2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1 (6-ounce) package frozen crab meat, thawed and drained (The Kosher Imitation Crab I use (Dyna Sea) comes in a 16 ounce package so I measured out 6 ounces and saved the rest for something else. I also chopped up the crab pieces so they were smallish bite-sized chunks)
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Swiss Cheese (I could only find kosher swiss cheese slices in Dallas so I had to sort of bunch them up and shred … which was a bit of a pain)
1/3 cup chopped green onions

Directions:

Line a 9-inch quiche dish with pastry. Trim excess pastry around edges. Prick bottom and sides of paastry with a fork. Bake at 400 degrees for 3 minutes; remove from oven, and gently prick with a fork. Bake an additonal 5 minutes. (I skipped this step because I used a ready-made frozen pie crust).

Combine eggs, mayonnaise, flour, and milk; mix thoroughly. Stir in crabmeat, cheese and green onions. Spoon mixture into pastry shell (or pie crust). Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until set. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Yield: one 9-inch quiche.

Verdict:

Delish! Everyone LOVED it. And best of all, it’s easy and quick. And since it is dairy, we were able to eat the yummy Tiramisu Cheesecake for dessert, which my MIL said was one of the best desserts she has ever had. It was a lovely evening. Speaking of Tiramisu Cheesecake, if you haven’t done so already, don’t forget to leave a comment on my Tiramisu post for a chance to win some great prizes from the Hanukkah blog party.

Happy Kosher Treif Cooking and Happy Hanukkah!