Spicy Double Sauced Crab Urchins

Ingredients:

1 pound backfin or lump crab meat
4 Tbsp. heavy cream
2 tsp. fresh chopped ginger
1 serrano chile, stemmed, seeded and chopped fine
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1-1/2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
24 capers
1 package phyllo dough, shredded

Instructions:

Marinate the ginger in the heavy cream for 20 minutes, then strain. Combine the crab meat, serrano chile, flavored cream, bread crumbs, mayonnaise, cheese, parsley, cilantro and lime juice in a glass bowl. Put reserved ginger in a garlic press and add the pulp to the crab mixture. Gently fold the mixture and divide it into 16 mounds. Press 3 capers into each mound. Pull apart the phyllo dough, cut it into shreds and brush it lightly with some butter. Cover the crab mounds with the shredded phyllo, then brush it again with the butter. Place the mounds on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and bake at 350F for 20 minutes or until the phyllo is brown.

Yields 8 appetizer servings.

Recipe adapted from one by Dee Van Nest in the “Capitol Cookbook.”