Tasty Morsels 

12 oz large pasta shells
2 TB olive oil
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 large clove garlic
1 lb (16 oz) lump crab meat
1/4 c fresh minced parsley
3 oz Gruyère cheese (for topping)
Fresh minced chives (for garnish)

Sauce:
4 TB unsalted butter
5 TB all-purpose flour
3 c milk (low-fat or fat-free is fine)
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Cook the pasta to just under al dente according to the package directions. You will have more pasta shells than you need, which is good because some will inevitably break while cooking. Since it’s much easier to stuff unbroken pasta shells, use the ones that didn’t break for this dish.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-low heat; add the pepper, celery, and onion and sauté until softened but not brown, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and sauté another 1-2 minutes.

In a medium pot over medium-low heat, warm the milk just until it comes to a very gentle simmer. In a separate medium pot over medium-low heat, melt the butter and then whisk in the flour. Cook the butter/flour mixture for about 3 minutes (it will be a light blonde color), whisking constantly. Gradually whisk the hot milk in, then add 3/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Turn the heat up and bring the mixture to a boil; let it boil for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Turn off the heat and whisk in 3 oz Gruyère.

Preheat the oven to 350F and butter the casserole dish. In a large bowl, combine the cooked vegetables, crab, parsley, 1 c of sauce, and 1/4 tsp salt. Stuff the crab mixture into the shells and arrange in the prepared dish; pour the remaining sauce on top. Bake for 20 minutes, then sprinkle the remaining 3 oz of Gruyère on top and bake another 10 minutes. Serve garnished with fresh minced chives.

Adapted from: An Edible Mosaic

Tasty, tasty, tasty. I love crab. I tried really hard not to eat any before baking…

Make this now! Right now. I promise you’ll thank me. I’ll admit that I was a bit wary of all the ingredients but it doesn’t seem so bad once you start cooking. I do tend to like using as few ingredients as possible.

This dish was amazingly gooey. And crab. Oh, the crab.

It’s really easy to make but handle the cooked shells very carefully. It’s difficult to stuff them if they’re broken.