Crab Gratin is a casserole dish with crab meat and creamy white sauce that is a popular western style dish in Japan. Piping hot Gratin is a perfect food for warming up during a cold winter.
Gratin is originated from French gratin, but today it is eaten widely at restaurants and home in Japan. Macaroni Gratin, that we already have the recipe in our video library, may be the more popular one at home because it is tasty, of course, and also easy on the budget. Even though Japan is surrounded by oceans and abundant with all sorts of seafood, crab is considered to be more luxury item than the others. Not only fresh but even good quality canned crab is pretty expensive, so it may not be enjoyed for everyday dinner but for more special occasions. That said, in the US, you can get pretty good quality crab meat in a tub at refrigerated section of supermarkets with a reasonable price tag. If you’re here, lucky for you, and you are destined to make Crab Gratin.
We used potatoes as some starch in the dish to be able to serve the dish more as a complete meal; however, you can omit potatoes and make it a little smaller, more like appetizer, and enjoy condensed crab aroma. In Japan, sometimes Crab gratin is baked and served in a small crab shell. The crab flavored creamy dish could go a long way by itself without the help of starch like potatoes and macaroni.
Crab Gratin is not hard to make at all, but you may need to do a little shopping, because a lot of us might not always keep crab meat on hand in our fridge. If the weather is cold and you’re staying home this weekend, try this dish thinking of your next beach trip!
Crab Gratin Recipe
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Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Slice onion thinly. Cut potatoes into 1/4″ thick match sticks.
- Heat oil in a frying pan at medium heat, and cook potatoes for a few minutes. Add onion and a little bit of salt and pepper. Cook further until the onion softens. Add spinach and mix. Set aside.
- In a different pot, melt butter at medium heat, add flour, and cook for a couple of minutes until the sauce bubbles. Add milk and whisk well so there are no lumps. When the sauce thickens, season with 1/2-1 tsp salt and pinch of pepper. Then add crab meat and stir.
- Set 1/3 of the sauce aside. Add vegetables to the rest of the sauce and mix. Put the mixture in a baking dish, and pour the remaining 1/3 of the sauce on top. Cover with cheese, and bake in the oven on the upper rack for 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve garnished with chopped parsley.
Video
