My mother liked the spotlight. To that end she perfected a few recipes, her staple contributions to family dinners. One of the recipes was the crab stuffed artichoke bottoms. On any given festive occasion where the artichoke bottoms were served, the adults rarely left any of them for us kids to sample and enjoy. Every once in a while one or two would seemingly disappear from the platter and we kids would enjoy them, around the corner, out of sight. Forbidden fruit is the sweetest they say and that is probably why we remember then so fondly.

• 2 6-ounce cans crabmeat (see notes)
• 1 tablespoon onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 10 3/4-ounce can condensed cream of mushroom soup

• 6 to 8 artichoke bottoms, depending on size
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2tablespoons dried Romano or Parmesan cheese

1. Assemble all of the required materials. Fine chop the onion.
2. Rinse the artichoke bottoms and pat dry with a paper towel. Drain the packing liquid from the crab meat. See note below.
3. Over medium heat, sauté crabmeat and onion in butter until the onion is transparent.
4. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder. Stir to mix. Remove from heat. In a large bowl, combine crabmeat mixture with soup and cheese. Mix well.
5. Divide evenly and spoon portions onto artichoke hearts making a nice mound. Place stuffed artichoke hearts on a baking sheet. Broil until tops are golden, about 3 to 5 minutes.

   I remember canned crab meat from years ago. There were chunks of crab meat in the can and the can held mostly crab meat. It had been a long time since I had last made this recipe and I guess I assumed the ingredients would be the same. I was shocked when I opened the cans and drained the liquid. You can see in the photo how little crab meat was in the cans. There were no chinks; it was all little tiny pieces. It was sort of like the canned the stuff left over on the table after they had packaged up the good stuff. Since I was already in the process of making the stuffed bottoms I had little choice but to continue. The finished product looked about right but it was definitely not the same. The texture was lacking and the scant amount of crab and flavor was insufficient to offset the flavors of the other ingredients; very disappointing.

   I will try and find a brand that sells crab and not cans of crab flavored water. I am also thinking of using some of the almost tastes like crab surimi crab and dicing it to add texture and additional flavor. It will be an experiment and when I do I will amend the recipe top let you know how it turned put. If you try it let me know if you will.