Thursday, May 3, 2007

Feeling Crabby!


The only good thing about Thursdays and Rich having class, is that I get to make recipes that I cannot try on him. He is violently opposed to eating almost all seafood (I can sneak in some fish every now and then, as long as its not salmon) so Thursdays is the night I usually make something with our friends from the sea. Tonight was crab...if you hadn't guessed from my (ahem) hilarious title :)

This lime crab salad come from Donna Hay's-Flavors, one of the best cookbooks I think I have ever seen. Everything in this book looks so yummy, I am determined to one day work through them all!!

This recipe is simple and healthy and light...great for a summer evening. It does have green papaya as one of the ingredients, which I thought I bought...turns out I bought regular papaya, which I didn't realize until I cut it open and the flesh was bright orange. Too late to do anything about it, so I used it anyway and it was fine, however it was too soft to Julienne, so I just cut it into small strips. I also didn't add the fish sauce, as this usually makes me sick, however if you love thai food, this probably would have added a nice touch to the flavor.

If anyone could tell me what an actual green papaya is supposed to look like, I would be interested to find out as I don't believe I have ever seen one, especially not in a US supermarket.

I don't know if I will make this recipe again, but it was very tasty :)

Lime Crab Salad
(serves 4)

3 cooked crabs or 13oz of crabmeat
lime wedges for serving
lime salad
1/2 cup lime juice
1 tsp fish sauce
2 tbs brown sugar
2 Lebanese cucumbers (I used English cucumber, as Lebanese not available)
1 cup shredded green papaya (or mango)
1/3 cup shredded mint leaves
1/3 cup cilantro leaves

1. To make the lime salad, place lime juice, fish sauce, brown sauce, cucumber, papaya or mango, mint and cilantro in a bowl and toss to combine. Allow to stand for 30min to marinate.

2. Remove crab meat from shells. Place lime salad on serving plates and top with crab meat. Serve with lime wedges.

3 comments:

Anh said...

Brooke, thanks for the lovely compliment on my blog. This salad sounds amazing... Don't you love Australian chefs and food writers (like Donna Hay)? I love love them!

Anh said...

Oh, I forgot to tell you that green papaya is green outside and very firm to touch. The ripe papaya is normally softer and have dark and yellow spots on the skin. The green papaya is dark green. Sorry for my unclear descriptions. I'll try to find one, take a pic and show you. :D

B said...

Hi Anh, thanks for the comments....I do love Australian chefs, their recipes are so much cleaner and simpler than a lot of the American ones.

Thanks for the info on the papaya. I thought I did pick out a green one, as the skin was green. But perhaps it was not green enough. It had started to turn slightly yellow by the time I used it. Next time I will try and find a really dark green one :)