Creamy Creole Crab Pots: Anniversary Dinner, the Second Way

For those of you who were expecting me to cook up a Creole feast for my anniversary surprise for Poppa Trix, I apologize. I  have just one dish to share with you - but what a dish it is! This little pot of goodness is loaded with sweet (local and sustainably-caught) Maryland lump blue crab meat that's carried to your mouth in a creamy sauce of mushrooms, shallots, thyme, onion, Amontillado sherry and (please forgive me, seafood purists!) Parmesan cheese, topped off with a lid of crunchy phyllo pastry.

With this one meal, all of my light summer cooking flew out the window. I have been on the treadmill every day since eating this. What I won't do for love!

I didn't originally intend to make such a calorie bomb. In fact, I wanted to make Poppa a crawfish strudel we once had Commander's Palace in New  Orleans. He was wild for it, and still lists it as one of his favorite dishes of all time. Unfortunately, I just couldn't find the recipe anywhere, and I don't remember the dish well enough to try to recreate it. (This may have something to do with the 25 cent lunch martinis ...)

After a lot of searching around, I found something called "crab meat strudel" at a Louisiana seafood site.  Even though it didn't look  like what we had at Commander's, it had possibilities. In fact, it reminded me of something you might get at old school Creole restaurant Galatoire's - which is perfect, because Poppa proposed to me on Royal Street after a meal there!

After some tweaking, these Creole Crab Pots were born. And please forgive the lack of process shots. I had my hands full cooking in a steaming hot kitchen while simultaneously trying to keep my cats off of all the beautiful crab meat.

Creole Crab Pots

1 small white onion, diced
1 large shallot, diced
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
clarified butter or ghee
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1 tbsp fresh oregano
8 oz cream cheese
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. Maryland lump crab meat
a bit less than 1/4 cup heavy cream
3-4 tbsp good sherry (or more, to taste)
salt and pepper, to taste
thawed pre-made phyllo dough (phyllo and puff are the 2 pastries you're allowed to buy already made without feeling guilty!)

In a deep skillet over medium heat, saute the onions, shallots and mushrooms in the clarified butter until the onions are translucent. Add most of the spices, reserving a pinch. Add the cream cheese, crab, Parmesan, and garlic, stirring until incorporated. Add the sherry and cook for another few minutes, tasting to see if you need more. Add the cream and reduce the heat. Add the remaining spices and salt and pepper to taste. When the mixture has cooled, divide it among four 8 oz. casseroles, filling each one  just below the top. Place four sheets of phyllo pastry on top of each casserole, and, with kitchen shears, cut into a rough circle, leaving 3 inches of extra pastry around the diameter. Squeeze this extra pastry into a crust (like a pie crust) and brush with olive oil.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, until the phyllo puffs up and browns. 

Poppa Trix loved his anniversary dinner surprise, and as an extra treat I made enough so that he could take one to work the next day. Not too shabby for a weekday lunch! Just so you don't worry that we're going to get scurvy or rickets,  we have been eating a lot of vegetables in the ensuing days. But if your anniversary isn't a good time to indulge a little, then when is?