This is Diana Henry’s version and makes an easy supper if you buy ready prepared fresh crabmeat. Serve with a green salad or green vegetables.
Ingredients
- 50 g butter plus extra for greasing
- 50 g flour
- a pinch cayenne pepper
- 500 ml milk
- 150 g extra-mature cheddar grated
- 3 tsps English mustard
- 1 tbsp mayonnaise
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 2 tbsp creme fraiche
- 250 g macaroni
- 200 g white crabmeat
- 20 g white breadcrumbs
Servings:
Instructions
- Make the sauce. Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan and stir in the flour. Cook over a medium heat until the flour and butter have come together and turned straw-coloured. Add the cayenne and cook for another minute.
- Remove from the heat and start adding the milk, a little at a time. Stir really well after each addition, so the mixture stays smooth. Keep gradually adding the milk until it’s all used, then put the pan back on the heat. Cook, stirring, until the sauce has really thickened.
- Turn down the heat and cook on a low heat for about 4 minutes. Season and add 125g cheese – keep 25g back for the top – and cook gently until it has melted.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the mustard, mayo, lemon juice and crème fraîche. Cover to keep warm.
- Heat the oven to 200C/ 190C fan/gas mark 6. Cook the macaroni in salted boiling water until al dente.
- Reheat the sauce, drain the macaroni and add it to the pan. Stir in the crab, going gently so that you don’t completely break down the flakes. Taste for seasoning – you might want more salt, lemon juice or mustard – and transfer to a buttered gratin dish (mine is oval and measures 22cm x 36cm).
- Scatter the rest of the cheese and the breadcrumbs on top. Bake for 25 minutes – the top should be golden – then let it sit for 10 minutes before serving.
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