Pasta Shells Stuffed With Crab

I love crab. And lobster. I often make crab linguine, but this is a completely different way to use crab.

It's easier to make this if you "cheat" and buy frozen fake crabmeat. I can buy it in my local grocery store and it's quite tasty. Usually it is pollock with a crab flavour.

So here is what you need to make this yummy dish:

1 box of Pasta Shells, large

Filling:

1 stalk celery

1/2 sweet red pepper

1 small onion

1 package of  crab flavoured Alaskan Pollock or 2 small tins of crabmeat

Old Bay Seasoning to taste. I use about 1 tsp. You may prefer less, or more.

Cottage Cheese - enough to moisten the crab and make the mixture malleable, about 3/4 - 1 cup

1 beaten egg

1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese

2 cloves of garlic (thinly sliced or grated)

White Sauce:

2 TBSP. butter
2 TBSP. flour
1/2 cup 35% cream
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup of Asiago-Parmesan-Romano grated cheese

Method

 Dice 1 stalk celery, 1/2 sweet red pepper and 1 small onion then saute it in a small amount of butter

 

Cube 1 package of Crab or 2 tins of crab. I use frozen crab flavoured Alaskan Pollock

Mix the crab, Old Bay Seasoning, Cottage Cheese, 1 beaten egg, 1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese and 2 cloves of garlic (thinly sliced or grated)

Cook the pasta shells in boiling salted water for 8-9 minutes until soft. Drain and set aside to cool slightly.

Stuff each shell with 2 Tbsp. of the Crab Mixture. Set the shells in a buttered 9x12 lasagne dish.

Make a white sauce with butter, flour, 35% cream, 1 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of Asiago-Parmesan-Romano grated cheese.

Use a thickener if the sauce doesn't thicken enough to suit you. I use Veloutine as I love it!

Pour about 3/4 of the sauce over the top of the shells, cover with tin foil and bake in 350' oven for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 8-15 minutes, until tops are just starting to brown. Take out of oven and pour rest of reheated sauce over the top. This recipe makes 28 shells.