crab

Grilled Artichokes with Crab Filling

25.06.2013 13 Comments

My grill broke last summer. We were in the middle of a move, and I still held onto the hope that we could fix it, so it wasn’t replaced. In Southern California, grillin' isn’t just a summer activity, it’s a year long love affair, making an entire 13 months sans grill a really long time to deprive myself of the chard glory of fire cooked food.

We just replaced it this past weekend and I can’t get enough of it. I had been trying to satisfy my urge to grill via my grill pan. Although it is a pretty fantastic pan, after making this corn on my stove top in a grill pan I couldn’t take it anymore, I had to have the real thing. I think I’ve officially reached Grill Junky status, lets hope I can keep it under control.

Hope you don’t mind too much, but I’ll be posting my grilling adventures over the next few weeks. And probably well into fall.

My favorite pinterest board right now is my Grillin' like a Villain. Feel free to post links to grilled food I should be aware of!

Grilled Artichokes with Crab Filling

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 28 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

For the Artichokes:

2 fresh artichoke
4 tbs melted butter
2 tbs lemon juice
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
Vegetable oil for the grill

For the Filling:

4 rings fresh pineapples (cut off rind and remove core)
12 ounces fresh lump crab meat
½ cup sour cream
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp mustard powder
¼ tsp hot pepper sauce
8 large Brussels sprouts
2 ounce crumbled goat cheese

Instructions

Prepare a pot of lightly salted boiling water. Preheat the grill
Slice the artichokes down the center, lengthwise. Using a melon baller and a paring knife remove the hair from the choke as well as the inner purple leaves, leaving a cavity in the center of the each artichoke half.
Boil in the pot of lightly salted boiling water until the outer leaves tear away easily, about 20 minutes.
Grill the pineapple rings until strong grill marks appear on each side, about 3 minutes per side. Remove from grill, allow to cool slightly, chop.
In a small bowl stir together the crab meat, pineapple, sour cream, hot pepper sauce, ½ tsp each of salt, pepper, chili powder, and mustard powder.
Using a cheese crater, grate the Brussels sprouts, this should equal about 2/3 cup. Stir the grated Brussels sprouts into the crab mixture.
Once the artichokes are done cooking, remove from water and allow to drain.
Mix the melted butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper together in a small bowl. Brush artichokes on all sides with melted butter mixture.
Brush the grill with vegetable oil. Grill artichokes, cut side down, until nice grill marks appear, about 5-8 minutes. Baste artichokes with melted butter while grilling.
Remove from grill, fill the cavity of each artichoke with crab mixture and top with crumbled goat cheese. Return to the grill, crab side up, and cook just until the filling is warm and the cheese has started to melt, about 3 minutes.
Serve immediately.

Notes

Starting at the outside and working inward, use the artichoke leaves to scoop out and eat the filling.

Crab Cake Eggs Benedict with Bacon Hollandaise

19.09.2012 16 Comments

I think we know each other well enough by now that I don’t have to try and pretend. If a dish is easy, I’ll tell you. If it’s quick, I’ll tell you. If it’s healthy, I’ll tell you.

This is none of those things. It is, however, worth the effort. It’s a special occasion breakfast to keep in your back pocket, for, you know, if Bradley Cooper stops by for breakfast. It could happen.

It’s actually not that difficult. Although, I do hesitate to say that since my "not that difficult" is someone else’s "Oh my GOD, is she nuts??"

But really, you can do this. I even gave you a food processor version of a hollandaise, which is SUPER easy, you don’t even have to worry about turning your sauce into scrabbled eggs, which is what I did the first time I tried to make it the traditional way.

If you want to make this in stages, you can assemble the crab cakes ahead of time, put them on a plate, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and then cook the following day. You can also make the sauce ahead of time, and then reheat slowly in a double boiler. You can EVEN replace the poached eggs with fried eggs to make it even easier. But really, it’s not that difficult.

And I believe in you.

I think all food people have a small stash of items that we buy at Gourmet Food Stores that we save for special recipes. Spices, the good salt in those fancy containers, crab meat, things like that. This is a recipe I found worthy of breaking into my Gourmet Food Store stash. Rare for a breakfast recipe, but this one made the cut.

Crab Cake Eggs Benedict with Bacon Hollandaise

Ingredients

For The Crab Cakes:

1 egg
2 tbs green onions, chopped
1/4 cup roasted red pepper, chopped
1 tbs melted butter
8 oz lump crab meat
1 cup Panko bread crumbs, plus one cup divided
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
pinch cayenne
1/4 tsp Old Bay seasoning

For the Hollandaise:

4 strips bacon
4 tbs butter
4 egg yolks
2 tbs lemon
pinch cayenne
4 eggs (for poaching)

Makes 4 servings

Instructions

Combine all the crab cake ingredients in a bowl (reserving one cup of Panko for the coating). Form into 4 patties, about 1 inch thick. Place remaining Panko in a bowl. One at a time, place the patties in the Panko and press until well coated on all sides with bread crumbs. Place on a plate and refrigerate until ready to use.
In a pan over medium high heat, cook the bacon, turing frequently, until crispy and cooked trough. Remove the bacon and set aside. Once the bacon is removed, add the crab cakes to the pan, cooking in the bacon grease until golden brown on the underside, flip carefully and cook on the other side until cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. Remove from heat.
In a food processor, add the bacon, process until only crumbs are left. Add the egg yolks and process for about 3 minutes. Melt the butter in a pot on the stove (or in the microwave) until hot and steaming. While the food processor is running, slowly, slowly add the butter until well combined with the yolks. Add the lemon and the cayenne, process until combined. If your sauce is too thick, add water to thin, about a teaspoon at a time.
Poach the eggs in simmering water.
Place one crab cake on each plate, top with poached egg, then sauce.

Hawaiian Crab Rolls

09.07.2012 15 Comments

In my neck of the woods lobster is more expensive than a one hour massage, and doesn’t last as long. But crab I can pick up for $3 making my internal "Lobster vs. Crab" debate pretty short. If you can swing it, buy the Lump or Jumbo Lump, which has big pieces of crab, as opposed to the Special or Claw meat, which is just small shreds of crab.

I know that a traditional lobster roll has mayo, but to be honest with you mayo makes me gag. I always sub a combination of sour cream and cream cheese for the mayo that I refuse to use. With a flavor as delicate as crab, you don’t want to bulldoze the flavors with too much tang, more sour cream than cream cheese gave the perfect balance.

These Kings Hawaiian Hot Dog buns are incredible. The perfect softness with a touch of sweetness that really makes this recipe, a regular hot dog bun won’t work. Scour the town until you find them, they are so crucial to the amazing end result of this recipe. Here is their store locator.

Hawaiian Crab Rolls

3 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup diced mango

2 tbs chopped fresh jalapeno (stem and seeds removed)

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

pinch cayenne pepper

8 oz lump crab meat

4 Kings Hawaiian Hot Dog Buns

3 tbs butter

1/2 cup arugula

In a bowl combine the cream cheese, mango, jalapeno, sour cream, salt, pepper, lemon juice and cayenne pepper, stir until well combined. Add the crab meat and stir until just combined, set aside.

Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Butter the sides of the Kings Hawaiian Hot Dog Buns, where they had presiously been attached to each other.

Add to the hot pan and cook on each buttered side until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side, remove from pan.

Line the inside of the toasted buns with arugula. Top with crab mixture.

Makes 4.

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Crab Stuffed Baked Avocado

25.06.2012 18 Comments

There is something about the raw exposure that blogging brings that forces you to face and deal with emotional handicaps that you didn’t even know that you have.

It may be the contrast between complete strangers showering you with compliments and adorations, and other complete strangers raining down harsh criticism. When in reality, neither is wholly accurate. You are, to one degree or another, somewhere in the middle.

And as harsh and those nasty comments can be, the overly positive ones have always been more difficult for me to deal with. Those readers who send compliment saturated emails about how much they love my recipes, or how great my life must be, are with no doubt a highlight of blogging. But I am always left with the fear that the pedestal will crumble and I will be exposed as the ordinary person that I truly am.

Self worth is supposed to be an isolated container, unaffected by the thoughts of others. But I’m not sure anyone has really figure out how to do that, and if he does, I’m not sure I want to meet that guy.

The truth is, sometimes we need a mirror of honesty to see how great we are, and place that value in our container of worth. And to really start to believe it.

Take a second to think back on your life and write down all the best compliments that you have ever received.

And then take the rest of your life to truly believe them.

Crab Stuffed Baked Avocado

4 oz cream cheese, softened

6 oz crab meat (drain well if using canned meat)

1/4 cup tomatoes, chopped

1 tbs scallions

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

pinch cayenne pepper

3 large ripe avocados,cut in half, pits removed

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400.

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients except the avocados and the parmesan, mix until well combined.

Fit the hole in the avocado with crab mixture, top with generous amounts of cheese. Place avocados in the wells of a muffin tin, bake at 400 until the cheese has melted about 8-10 minutes.

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Crab Guacamole

13.04.2012 12 Comments

I try to eat a healthy balanced diet. Most days, my daily meal planner looks like this:

Breakfast: 2 slices of high fiber wheat toast with 1 tbs of peanut butter each and coffee. Lots of coffee.

Lunch: Quinoa salad or leftover dinner from the night before.

Dinner: Some arrangement of lean protien (mostly chicken or fish), vegetables, and either rice or quinoa

But sometimes I just want to use the gorgeous avocados that were delivered to my door from a local produce delivery service. I want to mix it up with crab and sour cream and eat it over the sink while Tater plays in the back yard. So that’s what I did.

I added fresh jalapenos, and removing the seeds removes most of the heat so you get the flavor, a little crunch and just a bit of heat.

Crab Guacamole

3 large ripe avocados

1 tbs chopped shallots

2 tbs chopped fresh jalapeno, stem and seeds removed

1/2 cup full fat sour cream

3 ounces crab meat

2 tbs lemon juice

2 tbs chopped cilantro

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp chili powder

cut the avocados in half, remove the pit and scoop the flesh into a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and smash it all together until well combined, but some chunks of avocado still remain.

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Weeknight Crab Alfredo

13.02.2012 14 Comments

I’m changing the focus of Valentines day.

Forcing someone to say "I Love You" is about as meaningful as buying your own Grammy on eBay and pretending you actually won. The entitlement and expectation take all of the romance out of it. In just the same way that the show The Biggest Loser has had more successful marriages than The Bachelor series has, some things just cant be forced.

My husband and I did away with giving into the societal expectation years ago, much preferring to go out to dinner on nights that don’t include 2 hour waits and $65 pre fixe menus. He’s romantic in the little ways, negating my need for Valentines day pageantry. He will "borrow"my car in order to take it to get washed and the oil changed. He’ll get up with Tater on a Saturday and let me sleep in. When I’ve had a hard day he’ll do the dishes, giving me time to play blocks with Tater instead of spend what little time I have after work in the kitchen.

Now that I have a daughter, the focus of Valentines day is more fun and childish, more of the cartoon that it has become, and I like it that way. I buy Tater a bag of Valentines Day toys, and write her a card about how much I love her. I look forward to helping with her elementary school Valentines Days, the decorated shoe box receptacles, the paper cards, the drama of who wrote "XOXO" and who just signed their names. The sorting out of conversation hearts according to what is ok to give the boys and what is not. Because, everyone who has been a 3rd grader knows that slipping candy with messages on them into paper envelops is a big deal. And when you are required to give one to everyone in the class, even the boys you can’t stand and the boys you just pretend like you can’t stand, everyone know that you NEVER give a "Kiss Me" heart to a boy! Seriously, tragedy would in sue. Because you will also be reading every single heart that is the envelopes you got from the boys with the secret hopes that the boy who sits behind you didn’t just give you the "Nice Day" heart but intentionally slipped the "Be Mine" candy into the envelope with your name on it. In 3rd grade, risking possible social, school yard torture via teasing to let the little girl who sits in front of you know you like her is so romantic.

When you grow up, and have kids and a house and a job, romance is different. It’s the consideration that tends to wain as we grow comfortable with each other. Romance is that person who has woken up next to you for years actually seeing you. As special and important and desireable. It’s someone feeling lucky to be the one who wakes up in your bed, and eat the food you make and parent along side you.

Romance isn’t feeling required to bring home red flowers on the second week February, it’s running to the store late at night for flour because we’re out your wife is behind on blog posts.

Even though Valentines day is in the middle of the week this year, and like me, you may have about 20 minutes between the time you get home from work and the time your family is expecting to be fed, this dish takes about that much time. But it feels special. Crab Alfredo in 15 minutes.

Crab Alfredo

3 tbs butter

3 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbs, plus 2 tsp flour

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp lemon juice

Pinch Cayenne pepper

6 oz crab meat, drained well

salt and pepper to taste

Pasta for serving

(makes two large or four small servings)

Cook pasta according to package directions.

In a skillet over medium/high heat, melt the butter. Add the garlic and stir, allowing to cook for about 30 seconds. Add the flour and whisk until well combined with the butter, don’t allow to brown. Add the milk and cream and stir to combine. Add the lemon juice, cayenne and cheese, cooking until the cheese has melted. Add the crab meat, stir until the crab is warmed up and remove from heat. Salt and pepper to taste. If sauce is too thick, add milk about 1 tbs at a time to thin.

Serve over pasta.

Crab Cake Mini Muffins

18.11.2011 3 Comments

You always have fun when you’re eating crab cakes. Actual fact. But, here is the thing about crab cakes: Lots of work.

I made Wolfgang Pucks recipe once and it took me about an hour. They were really incredible, so if you ever get your hands on some really amazing, fresh, never touched a can, right out of the sea- kinda crabs, that would be a worthy recipe to slave over.

This time of the year, food is more about the biggest shine for your time. You have about a zillion things to cook for right now: the holidays, your office party, your kids school gathering-that-we-legally-can’t-call-a-party party, AND family type people. Here you go: 15 minute crab cakes. Looks super fancy, like you spent that hour I spent with those other crab cakes, craveably addictive, AND 15 active minutes, then bake.

Crab Cake Mini Muffins

3 tbs cream cheese

2 eggs

1 tbs lemon juice

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce (Tabasco, Tapatillo)

1/4 cup roasted red bell peppers, chopped

1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning

½ tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

½ tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 tbs green onions, chopped (more for garnish if desired)

1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs (plus ¼ cup for topping, divided)

¼ cup flour

6 oz lump crab meat, drained

Makes 16-18

Preheat oven to 350.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until softened. While the mixer is on high, add the eggs, one at a time until well combined.

Reduce speed to medium and lemon juice, mustard, and hot pepper sauce, mix until combined.

Add the Old Bay, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, green onions and mix until combined.

Add ½ cup Panko and flour and mix until combined. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and stir in the crabmeat with a wood spoon or spatula.

Very generously grease enough mini muffin tins to hold about 18 mini crab cakes.

Add the crab mixture to the wells of the mini muffin tins until just below the top. Sprinkle the top of each mini muffin with the remaining ¼ cup of Panko.

Bake at 350 for about 18-20 minutes

Questions that I think you might have:

If I don’t own a mini muffin pan, can I make this in a regular muffin pan?

I don’t recommend it. My guess is that by the time you get the inside cooked (about 30 minutes) the outside will be burnt and dry. But my other guess is that if you buy a mini muffin pan, you will use it all the time.

I like to dip things, What about a dipping sauce?

I like to dip things too. Easy dippin’ sauce, since I know you have a ton of other things to do: 1 cup sour cream, 1 tsp garlic powder, ¼ tsp smoked paprika, ¼ tsp hot pepper sauce. Adjust depending on taste, oh and throw some of those green onions on top.

I don’t like hot stuff, can I leave on out the pepper sauce?

They will be bland. But the small amount that is called for isn’t enough to make it spicy. They sell Tabasco in supper tiny bottles, and it lasts for about a million years in the fridge.

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