Title: Palace Cafe's Crab Meat Cheesecake W/pecan Cr
Categories: Seafood Cheesecake
Yield: 8 Slices

1/2	sm	Onion; finely diced
		Butter
4	oz	Crab Meat; shells removed
8	oz	Plain Cream Cheese; softened to room temperature
1/3	c	Creole Cream Cheese*
2		Eggs
		Salt
		White Pepper
		Hot Red Pepper Sauce
		****PECAN CRUST****
3/4	c	Pecans
1	c	Flour
1/2	ts	Salt
5	tb	Cold Butter
3	tb	-Ice Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare crust and set aside while making cheesecake filling. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.

In a small skillet, cook onion until transparent in a little butter over medium heat. Add crab and cook until just heated through; set aside.

In a mixer fitted with a paddle (or by hand using a wooden spoon), blend plain cream cheese until smooth. Add Creole cream cheese, then eggs, one at a time. Fold in the crab meat mixture. Season with salt, pepper and hot sauce. Pour into prepared crust. Bake about 30 minutes, or until set and firm to the touch. When ready to serve, slice into 8 slices and garnish as desired.

The cheesecake is usually served warm with a garnish of crab claws, lump crab meat and green onions sauteed in butter.

If you want to make the garnish, melt 2 tablespoons unsalted butter in a pan and saute 1 bunch thinly sliced green onions until translucent; add 8 ounces jumbo lump crab meat and cook until heated; season with salt and pepper to taste. Top each cheesecake slice with garnish and 2 crab claws.

*NOTE: To substitute for Creole cream cheese, thin about 3 tablespoons plain cream cheese with 2 tablespoons sour cream and blend to a soft consistency.

PECAN CRUST: Grind pecans, flour and salt in food processor until finely ground. Transfer to a bowl. Work in butter until you have pea-sized crumbs. Toss in ice water, lifting up the dough with your fingers to evenly incorporate. The dough will remain fairly crumbly.

Press dough into a 9-inch tart pan, starting with the side, then moving to the bottom. Bake at 350 degrees about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, make the filling as directed above.

This recipe is from THE COMMANDER'S PALACE NEW ORLEANS COOKBOOK by Ella and Dick Brennan (Clarkson N. Potter, 1984).

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