Bayou des Illettes Crab & Oyster Quiche

Adapted from Cajun’s Joy: Cookin’ N’ Eatin’ (Toups Publishing, 1981), by Alzina Toups.

Read our August 2016 profile of Alzina's.

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1, 9-inch pastry shell
• 4 tbsp. salted butter
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 rib celery, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp. shallots, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup drained oysters, chopped
• 2 cups white crabmeat, picked over
• 2 tbsp. flat-leaf parsley, minced
• 1 + 1/2 cups evaporated milk
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. white pepper
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
• 1/4 tsp. paprika

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. Flash bake the pastry shell for five minutes. Set aside.
3. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, shallots, and garlic and sauté until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the oysters and cook until opaque, about 5 minutes. Gently fold in the crabmeat and the parsley. Scrape the mixture into the reserved pastry shell.
4. Whisk together the evaporated milk with the eggs and the salt and pepper. Pour the mixture over the crab base in the pastry shell. Sprinkle the cheese over the top of the milk mixture. Sprinkle the paprika over the cheese. 
5. Bake the quiche until it is just set and a knife comes out clean when inserted in the center, about 40 minutes. Serve warm.