Crab Meat Stuffed Mushroom Caps Recipe

Continuing with the party food theme, this week's recipe is a little more expensive than most of the posts, but well worth it.

Also, I've been asked to include estimated total preparation time. These should take you less than a half hour from start to the end of baking

CRAB-STUFFED MUSHROOM CAPS

2 dozen whole button mushrooms

1 Tbl. extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbl. butter

2 Tbl. vegetable stock

2 slices of white bread

1 Tbl. milk

8 oz. backfin crab

1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning

1/2 tsp. powdered mustard

2 Tbl. mayonase

a pinch of salt and pepper

a couple splashes of Tabasco Sauce

paprika

Gently clean the mushrooms and remove stems. (Keep the stems to use in soups, sauces or even as a pizza topper.) Heat the oil and butter in a large saute' pan and add the mushroom caps. Turn the caps as they start to brown. Add the vegetable stock after a couple minutes for extra flavor and moisture. It should take about five minutes to cook the mushrooms until tender. While the mushrooms are cooking, gently pick through the crab to make sure there are no pieces of shell. Remove the crusts from the bread and dice the slices into small cubes. Soak the bread in the tablespoon of milk.In a medium sized mixing bowl combine the crab, bread, Old Bay seasoning, powdered mustard, salt, pepper, mayo and Tabasco. Don't mix too agressively. You want to keep the crab pieces chunky.  Heat oven to 375. Spoon crab into mushroom caps and place them in a baking dish. There's no need to grease the pan. Sprinkle paprika on top for garnish and bake for about 15 minutes until warm and toasty on top.

You can serve these at a party with just toothpicks if you like. An optional garnish is a little dab of horseradish on top.