Italian Crab Fingers

Back when Amy lived in New Orleans, she frequented a Mid-City neighborhood restaurant called Mandina's. What drew her, especially, was an appetizer called "Crab Fingers in Wine Sauce." Not only were they delicious -loaded with garlic, wine, butter and breadcrumbs - but they were fun to eat. Little crab fingers swam in that rich mixture and one had to dig in with their own fingers, find one, nibble off the sweet crabmeat, and lick their fingers clean of all that buttery goodness.

We have tried a couple of times to recreate this dish, one of Amy's Top Ten Appetizers of All Time. We have never quite gotten it right. Nor did we this time, when we busted out a pound (yes, a pound) of frozen (yes, frozen) crab fingers that we had shipped from the Gulf with some crawfish last April. It wasn't the fact that they had been frozen, because, after all, we're in CT and crabs aren't all that easy to find here. We have the basic flavor profile but the consistency just isn't there. It just isn't saucy enough. Not enough butter? Not enough wine? Overloaded on the breadcrumbs? We're open to suggestions. And by the way, Mandina's, Amy really misses you. Anyway,here's what we did:

Ingredients:

Melt the stick of butter in a large saucepan. Using a garlic press, press the garlic cloves (or finely mince them) and add to the melted butter; saute over medium heat until garlic is fragrant. Add the crab fingers and cook, gently folding them in with the butter to coat, for 2-3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of the wine and continue to cook, 2-3 more minutes. Fold in the breadcrumbs and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Turn the mixture into an oven-proof baking dish. Drizzle with remaining 1/4 cup white wine and top with pats of butter. Broil under high heat for several minutes until top is browned. Serve with plenty of napkins!