Crab & Swiss Melts

Don't you sometimes just need a quick and easy lunch?  You know - not just your standard tuna fish sandwich or a little bowl of soup or something like that?

Well, here's a recipe that's going to be right up your alley.

Is it just me or does this kind of sound like an informercial?

I scooped this recipe up from Allrecipes.  I figured it looked pretty yummy.

And, really, couldn't be easier.  Although I did make a couple of slight changes - I left out the hot sauce and added green onions (for color), and a little bit of Old Bay, to draw out the flavour of the crab. 

Here's how to do it.

In a high-sided small bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy.

Add in the garlic.

Then salt and pepper.

Then the Old Bay - I think I used a scant 1/8 teaspoon, but it wouldn't have hurt to use 1/4 teaspoon or more.

Then the green onions.

Lastly add the crab and mix together.  The recipe calls for 1 cup, I had two 6 ounce cans so I used both.  I think that might have added up to 1 cup....  I'm not sure - for the first time ever I didn't measure it out like a crazy person.

I put this together first thing in the morning and put it in the fridge until we were ready for lunch.

When we were ready for lunch, I sliced up Italian bread nice and thick.  Then divided the crab mixture between the pieces and evenly spread it around each piece.

And then topped each slice of bread with shredded Swiss cheese.

Once the melts are ready, bake in a 425 degree F oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and lightly browned. 

Mine didn't really brown - and if you really want to have a browned topping and it's not working out just baking - I would suggest turning on the broiler to brown up the cheese.  Totally up to you.

While these were good - they didn't blow the top off my head or anything.  There might have been a little too much cream cheese - the crab sort of got lost in the mixture.  I would recommend reducing it to about 3/4 of the package. 

But it was definitely a nice change from the ordinary.

This is the Cane girl - signing off.

Crab & Swiss Melts
This version shows my changes, for the original recipe, the link is below
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 cup cooked crabmeat
1 clove garlic, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 green onion, thinly sliced
scant 1/8 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
Italian bread, cut into 4 thick slices
1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese

1. In a small, high-sided bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy.
2. Add crab, garlic, salt, pepper, green onion, and Old Bay and stir until combined.  This can be used now or refrigerated to use later in the day.
3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
4. Divide crab mixture evenly between bread slices and spread out into an even layer.
5. Top with shredded Swiss cheese.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until cheese has melted and browned slightly.

Source: Allrecipes