My department had a baseball outing a couple of weeks ago. It was a lot of fun. I was in the mood for ballpark food which for me meant nachos with lots of yellow cheese-like goodness. When they made it in front of me, the women was squeezing cheese from a large silver pouch. Sounds gross, but I love it. It’s like getting butter on movie popcorn. You know it’s not butter, but you want it anyway.
I noticed a few girls in the row in front of me eating grilled cheese sandwiches. They said they were crab grilled cheese sandwiches. My mouth watered and my jaw dropped. I must have this sandwich. I made it my goal to try it at home.
I couldn’t decide on using lump crab on its own, or make crab cakes and add the cakes to the sandwiches. I knew that I was going to use sourdough and Gruyère for the bread and cheese.
I went with crab cakes, but I made them thin like croquettes. To keep things simple, I used an Old Bay crab cake seasoning packet. Also to speed up the process I made them in my Panini maker, but I didn’t press them.
This sandwich was fantastic!!!! Crab, cheese, nicely toasted bread, it was great. With the round of sourdough, I was able to put one crab cake on each side of the bread, so when I cut the sandwich in half, each half had a crab cake in it.
This was quite a fancy grilled cheese, but one worth making again and again.
Crab Cake Grilled Cheese
- Salted butter (, softened)
- 1 pound lump crab meat
- 8 – 10 ounces gruyere cheese sliced thin
- 8 slices of sourdough bread
- 1 packet Old Bay Crab Cake Classic mix ((or your favorite crab cake recipe))
- ½ mayonnaise ((for the crab cakes))
- Butter each side of bread. Follow directions on the back of the packet of Old Bay mix. Gently form 8 thin patties and cook according to the packet’s instructions. Heat a large skillet or grill pan to medium. Place four slices of bread butter side down in the pan. Add a layer of cheese to cover the bread. Place two crab cakes in one layer on each slice of the bread, then layer with more cheese. I like to cover with a lid while the cheese is melting. Once the cheese is melted on the bottom and you can see it melting on top, add the other slice of bread, butter-side up and carefully flip the sandwiches. Press each lightly and continue to cook until the cheese is melted and the bread is golden brown. Cool slightly before cutting.
