One for crab...

[Jan from Humboldt]

This one the wife made up and it's good grub.

Joyce's Awesome Crab Puff Pastry Shells Appetizer (serves 6)

One box Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Shells
Cooked crab, I probably used about 1/2 cup Dungeness
Approx 1 1/2 finely chopped shallots
2 cloves chopped garlic
4 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Olive oil (optional)
8 oz fresh chopped mushrooms
~ 2 Tbsp white wine
~1/4 to 1/3 cup heavy cream/whipping cream
2 to 4 oz nice melting cheese (I used a nice buttery havarti)
Sprig of fresh thyme, take leaves off stem
one bay leaf
~ 1/4 c fresh grated parmesan cheese

Bake the pastry shells as directed on the box. Cut off the tops and pull out the middle as directed. Save this stuff, I topped each one with the top and left the middle stuff on the baking sheet to let it crisp up when putting them in the oven.

Melt the butter in a skillet. I had a very hot skillet, so I put a tbsp of olive oil in first and put the butter in the middle of the oil. This makes it so your butter does not immediately brown or burn.

Then add the mushrooms, garlic, and shallots. Cook and stir until the mushrooms are nice and tender. Add thyme and bay leaf. Pour in cream and parmesan cheese. Add the crab. Stir until nice and thickened with just a little sauce.

Spoon mixture into shells. Top with grated or sliced cheese. I just cut some little square slices (like about a one T pat of butter) and put them on top of the mixture in the shells.

Then top with the little pastry shell tops you removed earlier. (You could grate the cheese and add it in with the mixture and put inside the shells, I did not want to go to the trouble. Melting it on top worked great as the shells were very full.)

Bake in oven (I left it at the 400F that was used for baking the shells) just until the cheese is melted.