Crab Imperial II

This was very good! I love the kick from the cayenne! This reminded me of a crab cake! I made it as written except I used imitation crab meat. I also made a mistake and added the fresh breadcrumbs TO the crab mixture AND ontop of the crab mixture! This was so good that my hubby wants me to serve it on Easter as an appetizer!

I made this for the Allrecipe's Allstar's group recipes for March 2012. It is basically, a baked and lightly seasoned crab. I used a good quality of steamed crab meat. I think that makes all the difference flavor wise. However, unless the crab meat is steamed at home, there is an issue with some shell pieces that are very annoying. 1 lb of crab is a little pricey to. I wish the recipe would have noted to sift through lump crab meat, when purchased, for those that have never used it. That would have been a slight pain anyway, but better than not. The only change I made was using Duke's lite mayo, as it was what I had on hand. I also baked them in 6 ramekins, sprayed lightly with pan spray, on a foil lined sheet. I mixed half the paprika directly into the breadcrumbs. Overall, this was actually quite quick to make. The flavor was also descent. I had thought it would be creamier, for some reason, but the worst part was still those small shell pieces. It made me not want to eat any.

5 STARS without a doubt! I am not a person to mess with the flavor of crabmeat. Therefore, I was a little hesitant to try this recipe. What I can tell you is it enhances, not changes, the flavor of the crabmeat. I used lump crabmeat but wouldn't hesitate to use jumbo lump. It is that good! I skipped the cayenne pepper but other than that, followed the recipe. I have only a little left over and I plan to stuff a couple fillets of flounder for tomorrow. I served this dish with a side of sweet potatoes and coleslaw. Thank you Al Peacock for sharing your recipe. It's a winner in my book!