a crab care package

This is Porter investigating a cooler we received from a friend in Gustavus last week. He knows a good thing when he smells it, because inside is about 20 dungeness crab.

Gustavus is a remote community west of here. It's located right on the water where the fishing is plentiful. They don't have any tourist industry, no industry actually except for Glacier Bay National Park which is nearby. It's a wonderful little place. I'd like to live there. It's a place where you would, without a doubt, know all your neighbors and live a quiet life. You'd wear flannel shirts in the summer and wool shirts in the winter. You'd always be wearing some kind of hat. And XtraTuff rubber boots. You wouldn't worry so much if you didn't take a shower that day because chances are, you wouldn't see anyone. You would downsize before moving out there, keeping only the essentials; you wouldn't require a lot of fluff in this new life. You would live with nature and live pretty much off the land. You would come into town (Juneau) a few times a year to shop. Life would be simple.

We have a friend who used to come to Juneau to fish every summer. He fell in love with Alaska and ended up moving to Gustavus where he built his own little homestead. Gary keeps us supplied with fresh dungee crab, halibut, and shrimp. We love Gary!

We usually eat crab for a couple nights and then crack and freeze it for quiches later on.

This was our dinner one night--crab louie (salad), a crab quiche, and rosemary/garlic bread. Yummy!

Here's the recipe for the crab quiche:

Crab Quiche

Pastry for 9" pie crust

1 cup crab meat, pat dried

1 cup swiss cheese, shredded

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (optional)

1/3 cup finally chopped onion

4 eggs

2 cups whipping cream

3/4 tsp salt

pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Sprinkle crab, cheeses, and onion in pastry-lined pan.

Beat eggs slightly; beat in remaining ingredients. pour into pie plate.

Bake uncovered 15 minutes.

Reduce oven to 300 degrees. Bake until knife inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. I usually end up having to cook it for much longer than 30 minutes though.

Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

This is so good, hot, warm, or cold. Enjoy!