Having spent two-thirds of my life living in Maryland I feel bad saying this, but I have pretty ambiguous feelings toward crab. I certainly enjoy crab legs or a good crab cake at a restaurant every now and then, and I'll even make crab cakes from time to time, but it just seems so expensive for what it is. Most of the time I'll make fish cakes, or even zucchini "crab" cakes, and with enough tartar sauce they still taste great and are so much cheaper.
But, like a good FFWDer, I went out to purchase my crab anyway. I wanted to halve the recipe to save some money, but the store I went to only sells crab in one pound tins (for $29.99!) so I was stuck. I made the recipe, adding the optional avocado (I've been loving avocado recently) and I served it over arugula. I made this after work and did not have time for the grapefruit segments to spend more than a few minutes drying out on paper towels, and the salad honestly didn't seem at all wet to me. Did anybody notice a big difference from doing this? Anyway, the salad was quick and easy and we definitely enjoyed it, but I wasn't convinced that it was worth the money, and so probably won't be making it again.
To go with the salad, I made the Savory Cheese and Chive Bread with cheddar cheese, and substituting basil for half of the chives. I also used about one-third whole grain flours and the rest AP flour. This bread was excellent. It was quick enough for a week-night, and the texture and flavor were both excellent. I'll definitely be making this one again.
To round out the meal I made a quick roasted vegetable soup with some leftover frozen vegetables I found in the freezer, and we had blackberry cobbler (with some berries I froze over the summer) for dessert. All told, a great Monday night dinner.
Yum! The crab & grapefruit salad looks delicious. And, is that one of Dorie's bread loaves as well?
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you commented! I had no idea I accidentally posted the photos without writing anything :-) Yes, it's the Savory Cheese and Chive Bread.
DeleteWhat a great meal! The peppery taste of the arugula was really good with this I bet. Pairing it with the cheddar cheese and chive bread was such a good idea.
ReplyDeleteThat savory cheese bread is one of my favorite Dorie recipes, so darn good. Next time I'll try it with a little whole grain flour.
ReplyDeleteI should revisit that bread recipe. It must have been awesome with the basil.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to make that bread!! What a great meal.
ReplyDeleteYou had a feast! I love that cheese and chive bread. I need to make that one again soon.
ReplyDeleteWow, that sounds like an incredible weeknight meal :) I think you are right about the grapefruit...a little dabbing and the timing could be drastically reduced. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
ReplyDeleteSounds like an excellent meal. I love that cheese bread. Have you tried the olive one, it's also really good. I'm originally from Maryland, but I'm totally into crab, so this was a little nostalgic, and delicious. I'm glad to know I don't have to do the grapefruit ahead of time.
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried the olive one yet. I'm really into olives lately - I'll have to try it soon!
DeleteOuch on the crab.
ReplyDeleteI only dried my grapefruit for a couple of minutes and the sky didn't fall open - I think a good pat dry did the trick (especially since it wasn't being baked).
The salad looks really good with the bread.
Great meal. I've got to do catch up this week. The crab is a wee bit expensive, can't wait to see my sous chefs expression at that price! The cobbler looks really delicious.
ReplyDeleteI was afraid to tell my husband the price! Luckily he didn't think to ask...I'll look for your catch-up post; I'm curious what you'll think of the crab.
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