Crab Canapés
Ann M. Evans
A canapé is a small piece of bread or pastry with a savory topping, often served at a reception or party. These canapés are especially fun for the winter holidays when Dungeness crab season is in Northern California. Make it vegetarian by using a simple filling of sautéed mushrooms. My friend Rene Roth introduced me to this at our New Year’s Eve party in 2001. It’s so simple, I’ve been making it ever since. The Davis Farmers Market has fresh crab and a great selection of various kinds of mushrooms. Limes are in season fall through winter.
One package Filo dough (available in any frozen section)
One cube butter, melted
Several fresh limes, skinned and cut into small pieces
Two fresh crabs, meat removed
Four tablespoons butter
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Thaw Filo dough according to directions.
To make the canapé cups, spread the melted butter on one sheet of Filo dough at a time using a pastry brush until you have three sheets stacked on top of one another. Cut the stack of three into strips two inches wide. Cut the strips into two-inch by two-inch squares. Press each square of the triple-layered Filo dough into the bottom of an ungreased, shallow muffin tin. Bake for 10 minutes. Filo dough should be golden-brown and flaky. Cool.
Remove from the tin and place on a serving platter.
To make the filling, melt the 4 tablespoons of butter and mix with the crabmeat. To fill the cups place a teaspoon of fresh crabmeat and little fresh lime, without the skin, on top of the crab filling into each canapé. Each set of three Filo sheets makes about 12 canapés, a full package of Filo dough should have 12 sheets, so 36 canapés in total.
Serve immediately.