Cruising Crab Dip

Artichoke Jalapeño Crab Dip, always a favorite

We love fresh Dungeness crab, cooked and served unadorned the same day it was caught. But if the crab are really big, and the traps hold anywhere near our daily limit, there's a pile of extra crab meat left for the fridge. That's not a problem, oh no, the challenge is deciding how to enjoy this seafood bonanza. 

Photo: Dungeness crab ready for the steamer

Recently I opted for a peppy, creamy, crab dip improvisation. We ate a heated version with crackers and toast wedges for an appetizer, and then finished it off later that evening as filling for quesadillas. Once I mixed a similar dip with cooked rice for an impromptu dockside potluck side dish, and it disappeared. Really, it actually disappeared until the culprit returned my baking dish and admitted to licking out the bowl. Oh yes, it's that good.

Cruising Crab Dip

1 heaping cup fresh crab meat, carefully picked

3-4 green onions, chopped small or thinly sliced

1 jar artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

1/3 cup Best Foods light mayonnaise

1/2 heaping cup of fresh Parmesan, shredded or grated

1 small jalapeno or 2 pepperoncini, minced (optional)

Pita chips, crackers, tortilla chips, bruschetta or toast points.

1. Mix all ingredients together thoroughly.
2. Place in an ovenproof dish and bake at 375 F until bubbly and the top begins to brown.
3. OR if you are in a hurry, place mixture in a microwaveable bowl and nuke it for 2-3 minutes until heated through.
4. Serve with chips or crackers, or even fresh vegetables as a dip.

A few of the other crab recipes we enjoy:

Crab Cakes with a Piquant Remoulade Sauce

Crab Cakes with Green Chile Tartar Sauce
Crab Pizza
Crabby Cruising Enchiladas

Crab Cakes with a Piquant Remoulade Sauce

You've heard the cautionary warning, "Never try out a new recipe on guests." Well don't believe it. This week a new recipe and technique worked out just fine... even after the cook sipped a Vieux Carre' or two during the cooking. Several crab cakes topped each plate of fresh kale salad for a first course at our recent "Southern" dinner, and they were a hit.

Crab cakes are nothing new in my galley, we enjoy them frequently during the five months we cruise in the Pacific Northwest. The piquant remoulade sauce did bring a new flavor via its homemade mayonnaise base, but I frequently incorporate a sauce into my crab mixture. The big difference? these cakes were oven-baked on a buttered cooking sheet instead of being pan-fried in butter. I know, I know, I've lectured away about the need to fry these little cuties (see this link), but I have changed my tune. Baking really worked. The crust was crispy, more evenly browned, and the cakes were less likely to crumble when turned. No more need to tend a pan and dodge the splatters, no worries about timing... so what's not to like?

I'll continue to tweak my crab cake mixture, and I'll experiment with different sauces, but now I'm a convert to oven baking. 

Greg Atkinson has become my latest culinary hero for inspiring this recipe with his 1997 book, In Season: Culinary Adventures of a San Juan Island Chef. 

Fresh Crab Cakes with Piquant Remoulade Sauce

1/4 cup remoulade (recipe below)

1 bunch green onion, white and green portions, small dice

1/4 cup celery, small dice

1 egg white (from the coddled egg used in the Remoulade sauce)

1 cup panko or a shredded parmesan/bread crumb blend

1 pound fresh crabmeat, carefully picked over for shells and cartilidge

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Prepare remoulade.  
2. Preheat oven to 425 F and butter a sheet pan. 
3. Use a knife or a food processor to finely dice onion and celery. 
4. Add the egg white and panko to the diced vegetables, and mix until well combined. 
5. Carefully stir in 1/4 cup remoulade and crabmeat and mix gently. 
6. Shape into small cakes, 6 to 8 luncheon-sized or 12-15 thin, appetizer-sized. Cover with plastic and chill for 30+ minutes to firm. 
7. Bake on buttered pan for 10 minutes, turn over and cook for 3-4 additional minutes to crisp up the second side.

Remoulade Sauce

(makes about 1 1/2 cups)

1 egg, separated

1 tablespoon vinegar (I used white balsamic)

1/4 cup onion, small dice

1/4 cup celery, small dice

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard (I like Plochmans)

1 teaspoon prepared creamy horseradish

2 teaspoons sugar

5 or 6 dashes of a hot pepper sauce (Cajun Sunshine is my favorite, Tabasco works too)

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice (I added 1/8 teaspoon tarragon as well)

1 cup vegetable oil

1. Cover a whole, fresh egg with boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove, crack egg and separate the white and the yolk. Put the white aside to use in the crab cake mixture. 
2. Whisk together the coddled egg yolk and vinegar and set aside. 
3. Combine the onion, celery, garlic, mustard, horseradish, sugar, hot pepper sauce, salt, pepper, allspice and tarragon in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Process until smooth. 
4. Add the egg yolk/vinegar mixture and process again until smooth. 
5. With the motor running, add a few drops of oil and, when oil is well incorporated, add another few drops. Slowly, very slowly add the remaining oil in a very thin stream, allowing oil to become gradually and thoroughly combined with other ingredients until a heavy mayonnaiselike sauce results. 
6. Transfer to a clean jar and store, refrigerated, for up to 2 weeks. Serve with seafood... or just eat it with a spoon, it's that good!

Crab Cakes with Green Chile Tartar Sauce

For a good measure of a restaurant and its kitchen, order a crab cake appetizer… if they offer it on the menu. (Note: this works best along the coast, not so much if you’re inland.) A great crab cake will highlight the fresh Dungeness crab, not the bread crumb filler or any crunchy, strong-flavored vegetables so often found inside. No diced, raw green pepper or fennel for me, please. Hellman’s or Best Food mayonnaise is the binder of choice, never Miracle Whip. Lightly breaded crab cakes should be gently pan-fried and preferably in butter, never deep-fried or baked.

Imagine my surprise when I scanned the menu recently at a nice SE Alaskan restaurant and couldn’t find crab anything listed. Hey! Crab live in the channel outside the restaurant. Crab boats dock in the local harbor. Commercial crab season was open. A local retailer sold crab, both live and cleaned. How can you not offer crab? Sigh, that night I settled for a nicely prepared ahi appetizer instead. Ahi… available in Alaska… but not crab.

I remembered Sandy’s delicious Asian crab cakes in Helm Bay and vowed to play with my own recipe when we caught more fresh Dungeness crab.

My latest crab cake inspiration began with the peppers, luscious vividly-green peppers that almost begged to be roasted and enjoyed. Two poblano, two Anaheim and one jalapeno. Now what? The poblano went into chowder, the Anaheims were stuffed and baked, and the jalapeno remained. How best to use that one lonely jalapeño?

Jalapeno and crab cakes? salsa verde? pickled vegetables? spicy something! Then the combination of a jalapeno-spiked tartar sauce and crab cakes tempted my taste buds. Add the chile to a lime-flavored tartar sauce and then incorporate just a bit of that mixture into the crab cakes as well. Hmmm. This had possibilities, but it might be tricky to tame the jalapeno and still feature the crab.

Step One: the tartar sauce. This experiment was well received, almost taste-tested away before it could be used with crab cakes. Too much jalapeno bite! Add a bit more sour cream. Need more zing? Add lime zest as well as juice. How would it taste on a tortilla chip? Mmmm, works fine as a dip, or straight off a spoon.

Step Two: chile tartar-sauced crab cakes. The tangy bite of citrus and chile balanced the richly delicate flavor of the crab without overwhelming it. A crab taste  still prevailed. Some Parmesan from a can (Yes, from the green can) along with the bread crumbs contributed a subtle difference that I liked. 

It is important to ightly squeeze the excess moisture out of the crab before adding it to the other ingredients. Use wet hands to form small balls, roll them in the breading and gently flatten them into patties. The crab mixture is loose and a bit challenging to handle initially. Don't fret, it firms up nicely in the refrigerator and the cakes transfer easily into the skillet. The cakes warm and soften as they brown, so turn them over once with extra care. If they brown too quickly, before the centers heat, place them in a warm oven to finish. Then turn down the heat under your skillet for the next batch. 

This variability within ingredients means this post is more of a guide than a precise recipe. So much depends on the heat of the chile, the moisture content of the crab, the size and thickness of the crab cakes etc. Fresh crab or a superior brand of canned crab, give crab cakes a try.They are easy to prepare and a treat for the cook and guests .


 One-bite, appetizer crab cakes are easiest to handle, less prone to falling apart in the skillet. Pair two larger crab cakes with a green salad and you have a lovely lunch. Add some grilled French bread, a glass of wine and it’s a satisfying dinner. As for the tartar sauce, enjoy it on crab cakes, grilled fish or seafood tacos. It makes a peppy sandwich spread with cooked seafood or canned tuna. And did I mention how tasty it is as a dip?  Have fun with this one.

Green Chile Crab Cakes

Makes 4 medium size cakes

1/4 cup Green Chile Tartar Sauce, plus more for serving (recipe follows)

1 cup plus 1/4 cup Panko, dried breadcrumbs  or mix of breadcrumbs and Parmesan from a can (divided)

1 generous cup fresh crabmeat, drained in a strainer and picked clean of shell

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro or parsley, chopped

1 scallion, white and green parts, minced

2 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon canola oil, for the skillet

Squeeze the crab gently to remove any excess moisture. Place the tartar sauce, crab, cilantro, scallion and 1/4 cup breadcrumbs (or breadcrumb and Parmesan mix) in a bowl. Mix lightly, only until the ingredients are just combined. Moisten your hands and form into 4 small balls.

Dip each ball into a flat pan or pie tin full of the remaining bread crumbs, coat on all sides as you gently flatten each balls into a patty. Leave the patties in the pan, cover with plastic wrap and chill for an hour or more , if time allows, to firm up the crab cakes.

Heat the oil in a large cast iron or nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add the butter and swirl until it melts. Gently arrange the fragile patties in the pan so they aren’t touching. Cook until golden brown on one side; use a spatula and your fingers to turn once carefully and brown the second side. Cook until hot through, about 155 F on an insta-read thermometer.

To serve, spoon some of the remaining tartar sauce onto each plate. Use a slotted spatula to transfer hot crab cakes onto the sauce and serve immediately.

Green Chile Tartar Sauce

3/4 cup mayonnaise (Hellmans or Best Food)

1/4 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream

1 tablespoon Plochman grainy mustard (or Dijon, or a pinch of dry mustard))

1/4 cup pickle relish

a small handful of fresh parsley, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh basil, minced

2 scallions, white and green parts, chopped

1 roasted and seeded jalapeno, minced (or some poblano or Anaheim)

zest of 1 small lime

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients thoroughly; season to taste. Chill for an hour before serving. The sauce will keep, referigerated, for a day or two.

Note: these are mild peppers, but chiles vary in heat so add a bit at a time. The heat will increase a bit over time; you can add more mayo or sour cream to tame the bite if preparing days ahead of time. 

Crab Pizza

Friends shared some of their crab catch with us recently. (link) What do you do with a big batch of Dungeness crab? It’s surprising how much meat one large crab yields. Multiply that by several critters, and you have crab for a crowd, or several meals for two. There was no question about where to begin. Our first meal was fresh cracked crab, still warm from the steamer, with some melted butter and lemon. The next day we dined on crab Louis salads and crab quesadillas. Faced with one remaining cup of perfect, unbroken leg chunks, I was torn between grabbing a fork to munch my way through the entire pile, or being generous and sharing. I shared.

Crisped bread, crab and cheese are the basics for any crab melt sandwich, but they're also the elements of a crab pizza. This was an opportunity to try using a cast iron skillet to bake two small, individual-sized pizzas. I changed the method slightly for each one. 

Initially I preheated the skillet in the oven, and then slid the assembled pizza into the oiled pan. Well, that was the plan. The dough didn’t slide well off the board and the crab and cheese tumbled around. I plopped the dough into the pan, put the scrambled toppings back on top and baked the pie for ten minutes at 400F. The top crust needed additional browning, so it went under the broiler for two minutes. Topped with some shreds of fresh basil it was pretty tasty. The dough was tender with a crispy bottom, and the flavors of both cheese and crab were discernible. The Capt. topped his with bottled cocktail sauce and pronounced it “surprisingly good”.  High praise since he’s not usually a fan of crab + anything else. 

For version two I put the same preheated and oiled cast iron skillet on a heated stovetop burner. I cooked one side of the dough until it browned slightly, about two minutes, and then flipped it over. The crab and cheese went on top and the skillet went into the oven for five minutes. One minute under the broiler to brown the crust and bubble the cheese and it was done. Topped with basil this version was good, but not quite as good as version one. I thought the crust was different, more cracker-like, a little tougher, more brittle than chewy. The Capt. said I was being picky and this version was just fine. He did suggest that in the future I apply cocktail sauce, similar to a tomato sauce on a meat pizza. (I don’t think so, not on my crab pizza anyway.)

I will keep tweaking the ingredients and playing with the method, perhaps try grilling it on the barbecue too. Crab pizza is here to stay, whenever there is extra crab meat in the refrigerator.

Crab Pizza version one

2 mini pizzas

One small grapefruit-sized ball of pizza dough (link)

Olive oil (Garlic and herb infused preferred)

Red pepper flakes (optional)

1 cup fresh crab, picked over for shells

1 cup torn pieces of mozzarella (or fontina, provolone or jack cheese)

A small handful of fresh basil leaves, torn or sliced

Cast iron skillet, 8 to 10-inch recommended

1. Place the cast iron skillet in the oven and preheat to 400F.
2. Split the dough into two equal chunks and roll each into a ball.
3. Place the dough on a board lightly sprinkled with cornmeal. Press or roll out into rounds or squares that will fit into your skillet.
4. Lightly oil the top of the disk of dough.
5. Scatter a pinch of red pepper flakes across the top. Distribute half of the crab acrosss the top, shred as needed. Distribute half of the torn pieces of cheese across the top.
6. Remove the preheated skillet from the oven and coat the inside very lightly with olive oil. Quickly and carefully slide the loaded pizza dough into the pan; return the pan to the oven.
7. Bake at 400 F for 10 minutes, or until browned. Check the bottom crust for color; add additional minutes as needed.
8. If the top crust is pale, place under a broiler for 1 or 2 minutes until the edges are lightly browned and the cheese is bubbly.
9. Remove from the oven and transfer to a cutting board. Sprinkle some basil on top; slice into wedges and serve with cocktail sauce alongside. Enjoy.

Note:  

*I use a Bonita Atkins pizza dough recipe (link), but you can use your favorite, or purchase some premade at TJs, a grocery, a deli or an Italian restaurant. 

Crabby Cruising Enchiladas

We had barely arrived in Petersburg when we received the gift of six Dungeness crab, delivered to the boat, cracked, cleaned and ready to cook. (thank you Norm!) Steaming the crab was a fast process, and then I spent a lot more time picking out the chunks of body and leg meat. That’s not a complaint… I’ll welcome fresh crab any time, but it is a lot more fun to share the picking task with someone else. Check out last year's love note to crab. (link)

There are two types of crab pickers, the grazers and the pilers. Grazers enjoy each chunk of crab as it emerges, while pilers wait until they have a substantial quantity before they savor the sweet flavor of fresh crab. Me? I'm a piler, and y'all better not try to fork anything out of my pile without permission.   

We enjoyed Crab Louis salads the first night, followed by crabby enchiladas the next, and countless snacks and stolen nibbles just because crab bits were available, fresh, and oh so tasty. Enchiladas show up frequently on the menu, with a variety of fillings, and I usually just "wing it" with the recipe. This week it was fun to adapt a recipe from my latest treasure, The Fishes and Dishes Cookbook (link), a captivating collection of seafood recipes and more by Alaskan women who fish. Sisters Kiyo and Tomi Marsh and friend Laura Cooper, the primary authors, include recipes and stories from female friends and colleagues who also work in the world of commercial fishing. Enjoy this book for the articles and sidebars as well as the recipes. 

Crabby Cruising Enchiladas

Filling

2 cups cooked crab

2 cups shredded jalapeno jack cheese, divided

1 small onion, diced and divided

1/4 cup sour cream

2 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen)

1/4 cup chopped poblano chiles (canned mild chiles will work)

a couple of shakes each of cilantro and cumin

Sauce

1 TB oil

2 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup mild green salsa or taco sauce

cilantro, cumin, garlic powder & onion powder to taste

1 TB cornstarch

6 small tortillas, flour or corn

sour cream & sliced avocado for optional toppings

To make the sauce, heat the oil in a small skillet and saute a handful of the diced onion until softened. Sprinkle on some cumin and saute until fragrant. Add chicken stock and green salsa; stir and heat. Taste and add cilantro, garlic & onion powder as needed. Dissolve the cornstarch in a bit of cold water and add to the skillet, stirring until it comes to a boil and thickens. Add water as needed to achieve a loose sauce. Reduce heat, but keep warm.

To prepare the filling blend the cream cheese and sour cream. Add the remaining chopped onion, chopped chiles, corn and 1 1/2 cup of the shredded jack cheese. Mix thoroughly; taste and add cilantro and cumin as desired; gently stir in crab just to combine. A squirt of lime juice tastes good too, or serve lime wedges alongside at the table.

To assemble the enchiladas, preheat the oven to 350 F. Spoon a very thin layer of sauce on the bottom of an 8-by-8 baking dish. Set up an assembly line of sauce skillet, a plate or pie tin for assembly, bowl of filling, and the baking dish. Dip a tortilla into the sauce to coat both sides and place dipped-side up on the assembly plate. Add 1/6 of the filling to the tortilla and roll it up into a cylinder; place it seam-side down in the baking dish. Continue with additional tortillas until the filling is gone. Pour any remaining sauce evenly over the top, scraping the skillet to get every last tasty drop. Scatter the remaining 1/2-cup of shredded jalapeno jack cheese over the top. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10-15 minutes until the top gets golden brown, bubbly and maybe a bit crispy.

Remove it from the oven and let it sit for at least 5 minutes to set up. Serve with assorted toppings available - sour cream, avocado, fresh cilantro, salsa, lime wedges, etc.

Notes:

1. The enchiladas hold and reheat well, though I’ve never frozen a pan of them. Leftover enchiladas are not a problem onboard since we'll eat them for breakfast or lunch, but these have been known to be a popular target during a midnight fridge raid.

2. At home I’ll take the time to roast fresh peppers and tomatillos, use fresh garlic and herbs, and make my own salsa. When we’re cruising I find that cans and jars are welcome substitutes for hard-to-find or had-to-store fresh ingredients. the enchiladas don't care.

Crabby Cooking

 We LOVE steamed Dungeness crab, just minutes out of the salt water. Cruising in SE Alaska means we enjoy big, firm, meaty juicy crab legs that are so flavorful we no longer use melted butter or cocktail sauce on the side. Early in the season we feast greedily, easily consuming several crab apiece, even when dining on the really big boys. By August individual appetites diminish and the leftover crab present a storage issue, even though we try to harvest only enough crab for a meal or two and release the rest back into the bay.



It can be a bit daunting, sitting at the dinner table, gazing at the remains of a really good crab feed. Crab shells litter the table and spill out of bowls while the pile of uneaten legs looms in the background, still waiting to be cracked and picked. At this point in the evening all I want to do is recline somewhere comfortable and contemplate the pain of personal gluttony. But the crab won't pick itself and it's tough to find room in the refrigerator to store crab in the shell. It helps to have some company who will linger at the table, someone who cares even more than you do about picking out every last little bit of shell, or keeping the big leg meat pieces whole and not broken or shredded. Share the crab meat? Of course! Just help me get through this messy job and to my easy chair... oh drat, there's still dishes and galley cleanup to face.



Enough carrying on! Cracked and picked, the remaining cooked crab should be used in the next couple of days, or packaged and frozen for future use. Our preference remains crab fresh out of the steamer, but there are a lot of tempting recipes for cooked crab. Some favorites follow, in no particular order.



Crab Louis salad
Crab enchiladas, quesadillas or tacos
Fettucine Alfredo with crab
Crab ravioli in broth
Crab and shrimp lasagna with white sauce
Crab crepes
Crab omelette or fritatta
Crab dip/ appetizer spread
Crabby eggs, scrambled or huevos rancheros
Crabby eggs Benedict
Crab cakes and more crab cakes
Crab sushi
Crab-filled Thai summer rolls or wraps
Crab pizza with cheese and pesto
Crabby deviled eggs
Crab melt sandwich
Crab cioppino, chowder, gumbo or soup
Crab just grabbed with a fork as a snack when no one is looking.

...and by now we're a bit tired of crab, at least until we catch some more salmon,  have fish frames for crab bait and drop the crab traps to catch a few more Dungeness for just one more crab feed.


Note: at some future day there may be links to recipes for most of these dishes, or not. For now it will take e-mail or a phone call.