Creamy crab dip

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The first time I wandered into the delicious world of Tide and Thyme, I was following the scent of beer candied bacon. Yes, I know, the things one finds on Pinterest, right? There, I discovered that this candied bacon could be incorporated into a chocolate cake with stout and this recipe has been on my to do list ever since.  I have nearly all the ingredients in the house, I just have to summon up the energy to actually try it. One of these days for sure ...

But that isn't the theme of the day which is ... Crab, and another of one the fabulous recipes featured on Tide an Thyme, the most delicious creamy crab dip you will ever sink your teeth into. Fingerlickingly good doesn't even come close to describing it.  Did that pique your curiosity? Have a look after the jump.

 

The first thing I noticed when reading up on the original recipe, was that one should aim to use fresh crab as the canned variety apparently leaves much to be desired.  That sounded like reasonable advice. After all canned vegetables can't be compared to fresh ones neither. 

Unfortunately for me, I don't live near the seaside nor close to any other crabproducing location, so my access to fresh crabmeat is rather limited.  While looking at the seafood corner in the supermarket though, I came across little 100g packages of Irish Crab Meat (Shellfish De La Mer brand), hidden away in a corner of the fridge.  At the staggering price of 5.45 EUR a package (oops!), I was a bit hesitant to take the bait but as I really wanted to give this dip a try, I came home with two packs.  And even though the price of the main ingredient makes this a luxury appetizer, I don't regret buying it at all.  The dip it produced was simply amazing.

Ingredients (4 servings)  :

* 200g fresh crab meat
* 225g cream cheese (I used Philadelphia Light)
* 120g sour cream
* 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
* 1 Tbsp lemon juice
* 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
* 1 tsp mustard powder (I ground mustard seeds in a mortar)
* 100g grated cheese (I used comté)
* a pinch garlic salt

Preparation :

The crab meat I bought came shredded and free from any cartilage, but if yours still has the cartilage in it, you should remove it before moving on to the next step.

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese (which you will have softened beforehand), sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, ground mustard seeds and garlic salt and mix all the ingredients together until you have a smooth blend.  The original recipe suggested adding some milk for a creamy finish but I found any addition to be unnecessary. Stir in half of the grated cheese and finish by carefully folding the crab meat into mixture.

Pour into 4 ramekins and top with the remaining cheese.  Bake at 180°C for 20 to 25 minutes, until the ramekins are topped with a lovely golden crust.  Serve hot with some bread, either a fresh baguette or just plain sliced bread cut into triangles.