Recipe: Gratin of Christophines

1 Wash your christophines well then cut them in half.

2 In a large pot place your half christophines then fill with water add the thyme bay leaf garlic clove and salt. Cook covered for 25 minutes after boiling.

3 Carefully remove your christophines onto your work surface and carefully hollow out the flesh from the shells (with a spoon) without damaging the skin.

4 Place the flesh in a clean cloth then close it and extract all the water by squeezing it (this is important) *.

5 Then pass this squeezed pulp through a vegetable mill with fine grid into a bowl.

6 In a large pan sauté your small lardons with a drop of oil, when they are almost golden add your spider crab meat let cook thus 2 minutes.

7 Pour this into the christophine pulp, mix then add a little salt, Cayenne pepper and 2 tablespoons of cream, correct the seasoning. Arrange your shells on an ovenproof dish and fill them with your mixture finish with grated Gruyere or Parmesan then place in hot oven. 210° (th7) until it is well gratinéed. There you go, test it and tell me if you appreciated this recipe as much as I did. Under the palate the 3 flavors present: the suavity of the christophine flesh added to the presence of the smoke brought by the lardons plus the marine side of the spider crab meat make this dish a reference of this new approach to cuisine that which is called "fusion". * Very important point because christophine flesh absorbs a lot of water you will need to squeeze to the maximum so that your pulp comes out thick