Stuffed Blue Crab with Brown Butter Sabayon, Swiss Chard, and Fried Leeks

Read more about 2017 Small Town Chefs winner Jeffrey Hansell in our July 2017 profile. Tickets are now on sale for the Small Town Chefs Dinner, August 20 at the Louisiana Culinary Institute.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp. unsalted butter 
• 2 medium shallots (minced)
• 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1 rib celery (minced)
• 1/2 poblano pepper (deseeded and minced)
• 1tbsp. salt
• 1tsp. paprika
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups crab stock
• 1 small loaf of stale French bread (small dice)
• 1 lb. lump crab meat (picked over for shell)
• 1/2 tbsp. chopped fresh dill
• 1/2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
• 6 cleaned crab shells

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt unsalted butter in sauce pan. On medium heat, sweat the minced shallot, garlic, celery, and poblano pepper in butter about 3-4 min or until vegetables are tender. 
2. Season with salt and paprika and deglaze with crab stock. Once stock has come to a boil, turn down heat to a slow simmer for 3-4 min.
3. Start slowly adding diced French bread little by little until most of the liquid is soaked up. Remove mixture from heat and set aside.
4. In large bowl mix together picked crab meat, dill, parsley, and bread mixture. Stuff into cleaned crab shells. Top with brown butter sabayon and bake at 350 degrees until tops are browned and stuffing is hot.

Brown butter sabayon:

Ingredients

• 3 large egg yolks
• 3 tbsp. verjus
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. white pepper
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1 lb. browned butter (see below)

Method

1. In a medium bowl over double boiler, combine all ingredients except for the browned butter. 
2. Constantly whisk mixture until it becomes thick and mousse-like. Turn down heat on double boiler and begin to slowly add browned butter while continuing to quickly whisk. Once you have emulsified all of the butter, set aside in a warm place. If mixture begins to become too thick, add a splash of warm water to thin.
3. Note: To make browned butter, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. When color is light brown, remove pan and pour melted butter into heat-proof bowl. Milk solids will have settled to the bottom of the saucepan; try to leave this ‘sediment’ in the pan so that your melted browned butter will be clear.

Fried leeks (garnish): 

• 1 leek (julienned)
• Oil for frying

Lightly fry julienned leeks in hot oil. Remove and drain.

Swiss chard:

• 1 tbsp. butter
• 2 bunches of Swiss chard (cleaned and ribs removed)
• Salt

Melt butter in pan, quickly wilt the Swiss chard in the butter. Remove and season with salt.

To plate: Place Swiss chard on the bottom of plates.  Lay stuffed crab on top of the greens and garnish with fried leeks and additional sabayon. Serves 5-6, as appetizer.