.roasted corn and avocado soup w/ crab salad.

Have you ever had one of those days...


Scratch that..

Have you ever had one of those months? We've had one of those months. We were in Ohio visiting the inlaws and when I got back home I've been working hard on Pioneer Trek stuff. Apparently, someone at church thinks my cooking is stellar enough to put me in charge of all the food for this year's youth pioneer trek. Fun times. I'm actually very excited to be part of this activity. Fingers crossed the food turns out perfect!


When we got back from Ohio, it was hot. HOT HOT HOT. It was hot in Ohio and well, that heat dun followed us back to New York. So I decided to try an experiment I've been wanting to do for awhile. Make a chilled soup.

This soup is actually two separate ones. The base is a sweet roasted corn soup, then ladled in the center is a roasted avocado soup (YES ROASTED!) and it's topped with a delicious crab salad. Love me some crab!

We'll begin with the soups:

ROASTED CORN SOUP

5 ears sweet corn, husked, grilled, and cut from cob
1-2 jalapeno, seeded, grilled, and chopped
1/2 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 tsp cumin

1 cup cream
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup water
salt and pepper
oil

In a small stockpot, heat a little oil. When hot, saute the onion, garlic, and 1/4 tsp cumin until the fragrance is released. Add all of the corn, minus the kernels from one cob (We'll save that corn for the crab salad) and the roasted jalapeno. Heat for a few minutes and then pour into a blender. Blitz until smooth. If the soup is too thick, add a little more water. Season with salt and pepper.

Pour the corn soup into a bowl, cover with saran and pop in the fridge.

Now for the avocado soup.

ROASTED AVOCADO SOUP

4 Hass avocados, grilled (or roasted)
1-2 jalapenos, seeded, grilled, and chopped
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 cup cream
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup water
salt and pepper
oil

Following the same steps above, heat oil in a pan. Saute the garlic, onion, and 1/4 tsp chili powder. Scoop the flesh from the avocados and put it in a blender along with the jalapenos, sauteed garlic/onion, cream, chicken stock, and water. Blitz until smooth. Add more liquid if it's too thick. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl, cover with saran and chill.


CRAB SALAD
3 crab leg clusters
1/4 cup green onion, sliced
1 avocado, diced
1 ear roasted sweet corn, cut from cob
1 tomato, seeded and diced
1/2 lime, squeezed
cilantro
salt and pepper

Cook the crab in a pot of boiling water. Cool in an ice bath and crack the crab, removing all meat. Put in a bowl with the remaining ingredients and mix together.


A delicious soup perfect for a hot Summer night! Enjoy!

.crab cakes.

I have to admit that I was never a big fan of crab cakes. I know! What's wrong with me? It's probably been in the last 3-4 years that I have actually grown to love them. I have even gotten over my fear of mustard... but only enough to use it in this recipe.

There is no wrong or right way to make a crab cake. There are a bazillion different variations out there. If you have a tried and true recipe, then stick with that one. This is one I have used quite a lot and we like it well enough. Serve with a lemon-dill cream sauce (not pictured).


Begin by making the bread crumbs. What I do is set 5 slices of bread on the counter. Let them sit out for at least 5 hours. It's better if you can let them sit overnight to dry out.

You can make these a couple of days in advance. Grate and put in a ziploc baggie.

If you have a food processor, break the bread apart and pulse away until they're "crumby". Otherwise, you have to do it the old fashioned way like I do and use a box grater.


In a blender, put 2 Tbsp parsley, 1 Tbsp red bell pepper, 1 Tbsp onion, 1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning, salt and pepper, 3 egg yolks, 1 tsp Tabasco, and 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard.

Blend blend blend. With the blender still on, slowly drizzle in 1/4 cup olive oil.













Transfer the mixture from the blender to a bowl. Stir in 1/4 cup sour cream.











I like different layers of flavor and texture. I put 1 lb lump crab meat (blue crab is the best, but any will work well, except for king crab), a little chopped parsley, a little minced red bell pepper, and a little minced onion. Basically the same stuff I put in the blender, but this gives the crab cake some texture.







Dump in the aioli mixture and stir everything together.











Dump in 2 cups bread crumbs and mix everything together well.











I don't have a picture of me making the cakes because my hands were all gunked up. Not too difficult to figure out though. Just patty up some crab, then coat with the remaining bread crumbs. Put on a baking sheet.

Put these in the fridge and let firm up for at *least* 1 1/2 hours. It's better if you let them set up more than that though. They will be a little firmer before frying.



Melt 4 Tbsp butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Carefully place your crab cakes in the pan and fry for 4 minutes on each side.

Super blurry picture. Flip and cook on the other side.

What I did was fry them up and then put in a low temp oven on a plate while I fixed the rest of the meal.

If you're making these for your Valentine dinner, I highly suggest you do it like I did above. You'll want all of your meal ready and held in a warm oven. That way all you have to do is pull things up to plate as you need to.

I didn't get any pictures of the lemon-dill sauce. Here are the directions:

Lemon Dill Sauce

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tbsp capers, drained

1-2 tsp fresh dill, chopped

2 lemons, zested and juiced

Mix all of the ingredients together and put in the fridge to set. Can be made 1-2 days ahead of time.

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_137gsvd49gz

.crab rangoon.

I'm going to apologize in advance because I don't have a "finished" photo of these. I made crab rangoon when we had some friends for dinner and was in such a hurry to get everything on the table, the picture of my plating was not taken. I'm sure you will all be okay with that?



These were *amazing*. We get rangoon from this chinese place near here, and while they're appetizing, they aren't "knock-your-socks-off" fantastic.

You can make a bunch of these and freeze them for whenever you're having a craving, or you eat them all right now. It's up to you my friends.



The filling is easy. 6 products for the filling and you're there.

1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
1 cup crab (imitation or real - I used real)
2 Tbsp finely chopped green onion
2 Tbsp finely chopped water chestnuts
1 clove garlic finely minced
1 tsp sugar



Use your hands to moosh it all together. You just want to make sure everything is evenly distributed.



Take a won ton wrapper (found in your produce section, or by the tofu) and put a teaspoonful of the filling in the middle.

Crack an egg and separate. We need the egg white for this. Get your finger a little wet with some of the egg white and rub it carefully along all four edges.



Put another won ton wrapper right on top and press the edges to seal shut. Now put a little egg white on each corner.



Pinch the corners together like so.



This is what they will look like when you're all done.



Like I said, you can freeze these. This is the point when you can do that. Leave them on a tray and put in the freezer. Once frozen, put them in a freezer bag.



Heat oil in a wok (or pot on stove) to 350*. Carefully put your crab rangoon in the oil. Let cook until nice and golden on both sides. If you froze these, you *might* need to pop them in the oven once they're fried to ensure they are heated all the way through.



Pull from the oil and let sit on paper towels to finish draining off any oil.











I probably could have made my own sweet chili sauce, but why? You can find this in the asian section of your grocery, or at an asian food market.

So there you have it. Delicious, creamy, crabby crab rangoon. A little sweetness with the savory, light texture with the green onion and water chestnuts. A perfect party treat. (Hey! Every day can be a party, right?)

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_75crmbp6ch

.low country boil.

Low Country Boil is a traditional southern style shrimp boil. There's a restaurant in Savannah that we always go to called The River House Restaurant and Bakery right on River Street that has this and we always get it when we're in town because it's not only delicious, but it feeds the two of us easily. Traditional LCB doesn't have crab in it, but we are BIG crab lovers so I always throw some in the pot.

Here are the ingredients you'll need:

• Red potatoes


• Crab legs


• Shrimp (peeled)


• Corn on the cob


• Kielbasa


• Zatarain's crab boil seasoning


• Old Bay seasoning

First we need to make the clarified butter. Clarified butter is butter with the milk fat removed. That's the cloudy film you get when you melt butter.

Put some sticks of butter in a small saucepan. Melt on LOW heat. You don't want to boil the butter because that will keep the milk fat from floating to the top.

Once it's melted, use a spoon and carefully skim the foam off the top. That there folks is the milk fat. We don't want that.

Once that has been skimmed from the top, you'll be left with beautiful clear butter. CLARIFIED butter.

Cut up some red potatoes and set aside.

Cut up your keilbasa and set aside.

Measure out 4 Tbsp Old Bay seasoning and get your crab boil in a bag ready to go.

Get the largest pot you have. I have a pasta pot that I use for this and as you will see I used the strainer insert. I wound up taking it out because I couldn't get as much crab in the pot as I would have liked. So save yourself the trouble and LEAVE the strainer out but rather put it in the sink so you have it ready for straining once everything's cooked.

Add your potatoes and spices (Zatarain's and Old Bay) to the pot. Bring to boil and let boil for 5 minutes. At that time, add the kielbasa and boil for another 10 minutes.

I highly recommend using fresh seafood whenever possible, but you can use frozen. I always keep crab and shrimp in the freezer.. and corn on the cob, for quick meals.

When the 10 minutes are up, add as much crab, shrimp and corn on the cob to the pot. Cook only 4 minutes and then remove the pot from the stove and drain.

Put in a big bowl and serve.

The fun thing about LCB is that it's basically a free-for-all. Just dig on in and eat til your heart's content.

If you notice in the picture below, I used paper sacks for placemats. Just cut off the bottom of a paper grocery bag, and cut down the sides, folding the flaps over. As you eat, you can put all your shells on the paper and when you're all done, just remove your dishes and carefully wrap up the shells and toss in the trash. EASY CLEANUP!

Oh and that clarified butter we made? Put some in little bowls for dipping shrimp and crab in. We also like to have some tartar sauce and cocktail sauces on the table. Enjoy!

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_24crxj6mc6