Dungeness Stuffed Mushrooms

Dungeness Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients
2 doz large button mushrooms(Portabella will also suffice)
2- 5 ½ oz tins Dungeness crab ( not Maryland blue or Alaska King, or Stone), flaked
1 medium sweet (Vidalia or Mauii) onion- chopped
2 Tbsp sweet unsalted butter
½  cup sweet sherry ( I use Gonzalas Beyez Nectar)
2 cups shredded Gryuere (or Swiss) cheese)
3 Tblsp Hellman’s mayonnaise
pepper fresh ground Talamanca
parsley (chopped) OR chopped chives


Preparation
Wash mushrooms gently, remove and chop stems.
Using paring knife, scrape “gills” out of mushroom cap so you are left with a hollowed out shell. Save the chopped stems and shavings.

Saute’ onion in pan w/butter until just soft.

In large bowl, combine flaked crab, sauteed onion, shredded Gruyere, and  mayo
Mix in chopped mushroom stems and gills.  Mix in Sherry. Pepper to taste .

Preheat oven to 400°

Stuff mushroom caps with mixture , mounding on top. Place on baking sheet and  bake in oven for 35-40 minutes.(keep an eye after 25 minutes)  Serve warm with a sprinkle of either parsley or chopped chives.

Notes-
My “trick” is the hollowing out of each mushroom cap. Most recipes just have you remove the stem leaving little room for stuffing.  This part is a bit labor intensive but makes for more tuffing and a much better tasting baked mushroom.
Dungeness crab is sweeter than other varities. It melds perfectly with the cheese and sweet Sherry. Talamanca pepper from Ecuador has a bit of heat and a strong flavor pepper. A little goes a long way, but that peppery taste and “heat” on the tongue really gives a boost to the creamy taste .
You can use Portabella mushrooms but they add a different flavor. Ditto Swiss or Emmantaler cheese insted of Gruyere but, again they make the taste different. I have also used German Butterkasse cheese -it doesn’t shred as well, but it does have a great flavor in this. 
I did not appropriate this recipe, but made it up as I went . I have made it many many times , BUT I never wrote down the recipe.I just used the same things by rote, so you may hve to tweat the amounts- esp the sherry and mayo.  Any check the time in gteh oven.The higher temp is necessary to melt the cheese, but they can also burn, so keep an eye on them. The mushrooms will “weep” water out so that is O.K., Just out of the oven they are also soft but firm up a bit when they cool .

A long time (late) friend made me a chocolate-frosted banana cake with walnuts every year fro my birthday (Even brought one all the way to Greece one year) .  I, in turn, made her my crab stuffed mushrooms for her birthday. Her friends became familar with the practice and she would have to hide my gift because ,otherwise, all of a sudden, people would appear knowing she had them. So well received was their flavor !

I hope you enjoy them as much as I have as a part of my “repetoire”


Sourcing Dungeness Crab by the tin
http://sportsmanscannery.com/product/dungeness-crab/
http://www.theoceanharvest.com/zen/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2

Sourcing Talamanca Pepper
http://www.spiceace.com/chiles-peppers/peppercorns-black-talamanca.html