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Crab-Stuffed Potatoes

Ingredients

  • 2 large baking potatoes
  • oil, butter, or cooking spray
  • 3 T. butter
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk
  • 2 T. snipped fresh chives, or 2 t. dried
  • A few drops of Zatarain’s Concentrated Shrimp & Crab Boil, or to taste (Be careful. A little goes a long, long way! See Note below.)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 6 oz. can crabmeat, drained
  • 1/2 cup shredded Gruyère or Swiss cheese
  • Paprika for garnish

Instructions

  • Scrub the potatoes, prick the skin several times with a fork and rub all over with oil, or butter, or spray with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 400°. Bake the potatoes directly on the oven rack for an hour or until they yield to gentle squeezing.
  • Allow the potatoes to sit on the counter for a couple of minutes. For the best consistency you need to make the filling while the potatoes are still hot. Using an oven mitt and a long serrated knife, cut the potatoes in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, carefully scoop out the potato flesh, leaving a ¼” shell. Put the potato flesh in a medium bowl.
  • To the hot potato flesh, add the butter, buttermilk, chives, and three or four drops of the crab boil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly with a fork, or use a potato masher. Gently fold in the crabmeat and cheese.
  • Divide the filling among the potato shells. Don’t make the tops too smooth--the bumps are what brown so nicely. Sprinkle the stuffed potatoes with a little paprika for color.
  • At this point you can cool them, and wrap them individually for the freezer, or refrigerate them to bake later, or you can go ahead and bake them immediately. Bake the potatoes at 350° until they are hot and browning on top. Warm potatoes will be ready in 10 minutes or so, frozen potatoes will take closer to 30 minutes, thawed or refrigerated ones will fall somewhere in between.

Notes

One ingredient I call for may need a bit of discussion. Zatarain's Concentrated Shrimp and Crab Boil which is the liquid version and it's widely available along the Gulf Coast, at least. 
I use it frequently in place of other hot sauces, but it is strong, and you really do need to use it a drop or two at a time. The flavor is quite different from Old Bay or even Zatarain's powdered crab boil, but you can substitute either of those to taste instead. You could also substitute any Creole seasoning you may have on hand.