Who doesn’t love crab, pasta and cheese? I saw this recipe on the BBC Good Food website by Tim Bouget and decided to give it a try. I served mine with samphire instead of salad which worked really well. The recipe makes a bucket load of pasta so we did end up eating leftovers for a few days after….oh well, what a shame!
The recipe serve 6-8 people
Ingredients
100g butter, plus extra for greasing
500g dried macaroni
100g plain flour
1 litre milk (I used semi-skimmed)
200g mature cheddar, grated
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tbsp. tomato ketchup
1 tsp cayenne pepper or Tabasco sauce
150g fresh brown or white crabmeat (I used white)
Serve with fresh samphire (optional)
For the crab topping
150g white crabmeat
100g crème fraiche
Juice 1/2 lemon
1/2 small pack dill, finely chopped
Method
- Heat the over to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and grease a medium baking dish. Cook the macaroni following pack instructions.
- Meanwhile, melt the butter in a thick bottomed pan and add the flour to make a thick paste, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. Add the milk, little by little, to the paste, mixing until smooth. Cook over a medium heat, stirring continuously until the mixture thickens.
- Remove from the heat, add 150g of the cheese and whisk until smooth. Mix in the mustard, ketchup and cayenne / Tabasco. Drain the macaroni and return to the pan. Stir the cheese sauce into the cooked pasta, fold in the crabmeat and season.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining 50g of cheese on top and bake in the oven for 25-30 mins until heated through. Remove from the oven and stand for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the crab topping with some salt & pepper. Serve a big spoonful on top of each portion of the bake. If making ahead, cool completely and leave in the fridge overnight. The next day, cut into slabs and reheat (covered in foil) for 10 minutes in the oven at 200C/180C fan /gas 6 or until piping hot all of the way through. Serve with samphire, salad or steamed greens.
