Tag Archives: crab

Crab Pesto Grilled Pizza

Posted on August 4, 2010 | 1 comment

Yes another crab dish and I think that this may have been the best one yet.  We had a hankering for some pizza and being that we live in Maryland, making your own pizza is the only option.  So we stopped at Marchone’s Italian Market in Wheaton and grabbed a frozen dough ball.

A thorough thaw is very important

This was about 2 hours of thawing and the dough had expanded to about twice the original size.

Thoroughly thawed and ready to work with

If the dough is not thawed to room temperature, it will be very difficult to work with which I have learned from experience.  At the same time, you can’t work with the dough too much and remember that flour is your friend!

I rolled the dough out to the desired size while the grill was heating up.  Once the dough and grill are ready, give the top of the dough a thorough spray of oil.  You will then put the dough on the grill otherwise plain.

Straight on the grate oil side down and plain

Leave the dough on for about 3-5 minutes.  Just until the down side is lightly browned and basically firm enough to pick the whole piece up without folding and flopping like raw dough.

We need a new grill!

The bottom of this piece is uncooked.  The top would look better if we had a better grill that cooked evenly(grill companies we are looking for a sponsor!).  When we move, the gas grill is not coming.  The grill doesn’t know that, but I guess once this is published the news will be out.

Now it is time to dress the pizza with your toppings as you normally would and then throw it back on the grill.  Instead of a red sauce we used a pesto base.

Summer basil is great

Next we used some more of the famous leftover crab which was starting to run low.  Note that this was published well after the dish was made and we did not keep fresh crab in the fridge for 3 weeks.

We were able to be pretty generous with the crab since we had so much.  This was almost but not quite a pound.

Cheese it up

We used a store bought Italian blend.

Fresh tomatoes

We love fresh tomato slices on pizza.  Now it is ready to go back on the grill for a little longer than the plain dough.

Close the lid, which will help to melt the cheese.  I gave it a few turns because of our extremely uneven grill as you can see the full blast flame or no flame options.  It would be a good idea to give it a spin either way though.  This stage will take closer to 7-9 minutes to melt the cheese and cook the pizza through.

Summer basil again

It turned out great!  Slice it up, cheese it up, and go to town!

Recipe for Standard Pesto with Walnut

Greg

(Since I have been begun posting over the last month, we will start to tag our posts)

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Posted in Pizzas, Recipes, Sauces, Seafood

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Cold Crab Dip

Posted on July 23, 2010 | 1 comment

This is the first of many leftover crab recipes.  A very simple cold dip that is mixed and let to sit refrigerated until ready to serve.

Just mix all of the ingredients and sprinkle a bit more old bay on top for extra taste and decoration.  Serve with sliced bread, toast, or crackers.

Recipe for Cold Crab Dip

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Posted in Appetizers, Seafood

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Spicy cilantro and green onion crab cakes & Asian-style slaw

Posted on April 14, 2010 | 2 comments

Though we live in Maryland, we rarely eat crab cakes. I don’t particularly care to order them from restaurants because the crab to filler ratio is poor and they can be quite expensive. Well, luckily, crab cakes are relatively easy to make and when you can get crab meat on sale it can actually be quite inexpensive.

Such was the case when Greg found crab meat on sale at the Teeter.

On the back of the can was a crab cake recipe from Phillips. We decided to use that as our base, but also spice things up and use some ingredients we had in the house. We added jalapeno and green onion for some extra kick and used cilantro instead of parsley.

Greg originally wanted to call these ‘green crab cakes’ because of all the green ingredients we added. I was unsure about calling a seafood dish green though, but the name works once in the right context.

All of these ingredients were mixed together and formed into patties. We pan friend them in canola oil. Once they were finished we placed them on a plate lined with a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.

I just read a great article in Cooking Light that discusses how frying can be a relatively healthy way to cook foods and may not be as bad for you as once thought if done properly. Though these crab cakes were fried, they were still very light and not greasy at all.

To accompany the crab cakes I made an Asian inspired slaw. I used purple and green (white?) cabbage, carrots, green onions, and cilantro. I dressed the slaw with rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce and sesame seeds. It was light and crisp and perfectly paired with the tender cakes.

When we were grocery shopping I was searching for the pre-cut cabbage but Greg encouraged me to buy the whole cabbages and use our food processor to make the slaw instead. I am so glad he did, because the outcome was so much fresher and tastier than the pre-packed cabbage.

All in all, this was one of the best meals we’ve made at home in a while. I really recommend making crab cakes at home if you are a fan of them!

Recipe for spicy cilantro and green onion crab cakes

Recipe for Asian-style slaw

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Posted in Seafood, Sides, Uncategorized

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Crab and Corn Chowder

Posted on February 25, 2010 | Leave a comment

One weeknight, we decided to use the extra crab meat we had to make a crab soup. This recipe is semi-homemade in the sense that we used some canned soups to create our soup and not all of the ingredients were homemade. This recipe was the result of melding several different crab bisque and chowder recipes. I was quite pleased with the end result though and it was also great re-heated for lunch the next day.

Like many things we eat, this dish started off with a good saute of some onions and garlic in butter.

After the onions sweated out, it was time to add the remaining ingredients, which mostly consisted of the canned soups (cream of celery and cream of mushroom) and the dairy- milk and half and half.

Also not to be forgotten are the veggies- corn and asparagus and of course, the holy grail of spices in our house, Old Bay, among others.

You can see how nicely the soup thickened up after simmering for a little while. At the very end, we added the crab meat and some fresh parsley. Since the crab meat is already cooked it only needs to heat up in the soup, not cook. It’s best to add it at the end so it maintains it’s firmness within the soup.

This was a relatively quick and easy dinner and perfect for the winter-ness that was going on outside!

Recipe for Crab and Corn Chowder

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Crab and Spinach Ravioli

Posted on February 16, 2010 | 4 comments

This dish has to be the BEST thing we have ever made. I don’t think I can give it the title of the best thing I have ever eaten in general, but that’s only because I can’t remember everything I have eaten and that’s a hell of a title. Seriously though, this dish was sooooo amazing!

We envisioned making our own ravioli from scratch but realized we don’t have a pasta maker or a rolling pin so there would be no way to get the pasta as thin as we needed. Luckily Whole Foods carried some fresh pasta sheets and we were able to cheat a little bit- or as I would like to say, make our dream a reality with a little help. One day I will actually make the dough for this and roll out the pasta, but for now this worked beautifully.

Here is one sheet rolled out.

For the filling we used crab meat. Harris Teeter had a ridiculous in store special/sale on crab meat- this one pounder was cheaper than a 1/2 pound. That is quite, um,  special.

We mixed it with some other goodies- including ricotta cheese, spinach, and seasonings.

The real stars of this dish are the cheeses we used: parmesano reggiano and pecorino romano. We had a Whole Foods gift card and purchased some really good and expensive cheeses (thanks Pops and Donna!). It was so worth it! These cheeses played a major role in this dish and made it so flavorful and rich.

The parmesano reggiano

The pecorino romano

Had to add a little to the filling.

Then it was time to start making the ravioli.

To make the ravioli, we placed a sheet of pasta on top of this one. We used an egg wash to help the top sheet stick to this one.

Once the top was on, we just sliced the dough with a pizza cutter and pressed the edges together.

We actually made these ahead of time and kept them in the fridge for a few hours before we were ready to eat. Once we were ready, we brought up a pot of water to a boil and cooked these for about 3-5 minutes, or until they were floating.

While that was going on, we made the sauce. Oh, the sauce. This sauce is sinfully good… it’s made with butter, cream and cheese and the parmesano reggiano is the real superstar.

The black pepper made such a difference here. It really brought out the flavors of the sauce even more so and complimented it nicely. This meal was such a lesson in how fine ingredients make such a difference. Even after dinner, every time we would walk in the kitchen we could smell the intense flavors of this sauce. It doesn’t re-heat that well, so just eat it all in one sitting! haha… you will want to though 🙂

Recipe for Crab and Spinach Ravioli

Recipe for Parmesano Reggiano/Pecorino Romano Alfredo Cream Sauce

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