Crab Appetizers (Savory Cheese Cookies)

If you've been following my culinary adventures for a while, you probably know how much I love seafood. There's a French word "gourmande" that merely translates to "greedy" and I think it accurately sums up my personality when it comes to les fruits de mer (seafood). Thus it was fitting that at the Asian market this week I bought way too many crabs (again)! 

Lulu's grand-uncle, who also enjoys crab, came to visit us, so I made a few crab appetizers for him. At first, I didn't know how I was going to present the crab, but I finally settled on savory "cookies" flavored with Dubliner cheese. A bit of cottage cheese serves as the "glue" for the whole appetizer, and the depression in each cookie is perfect for a spoonful of crab meat. 

Corn and Crab Soup Recipe

This crab soup , simply called súp cua in Vietnamese, was my attempt to finish the leftover crab from last night's dinner. We bought six crabs for the two people who actually eat seafood in our house, so there was a fair amount unfinished. I prepared cua rang me (Vietnamese tamarind crab) and that's basically all we ate with a little salad on the side. We were so full by the end of the meal that we could not finish the dish. It was our Mount Everest and we didn't conquer it!  

I didn't want to waste the delicious crab, so I cracked the rest and gathered the crab meat. I had chicken stock in the freezer and I thickened it with a little corn starch. I added frozen corn and green onions to the soup and the result was just as I expected: mildly sweet, velvety and wonderfully soothing. Simply perfect!

Fermented Black Bean Crab Recipe

We had a giant seafood feast last weekend, and believe it or not, we cooked 12 whole crabs. The main flavoring of this dish was fermented black beans, which are very common in Asian cooking. I also added fresh green chiles and a lot of Thai basil leaves. 

The crabs are prepared in two steps. First, they're fried, and then to finish them off, they are stir-fried with the fermented bean sauce and a bit of cooking wine. It gets a bit messy around the stove, but the result is worth the effort!

Valentine's Day Appetizers: Crab Wonton Recipe

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. If, like me, you were celebrating, Chúc Mừng Năm Mới (Happy New Year! in Vietnamese)! Now Valentine's Day is up in a few days, so even though my husband Lulu is a vegetarian, I thought I'd share a recipe that seafood-loving couples can enjoy together as part of a romantic meal.

I made the wonton wrappers from scratch and filled them with a mixture of freshly cracked Dungeness crab, carrots, leeks, parsley, mascarpone cheese and olive oil. I paired the crab appetizers with an apple jelly dipping sauce that was out of this world. It truly tied the dish together.

Give this a try and let me know if your Valentine appreciated it! In my opinion, Valentine's Day should be celebrated every day and it doesn't have to be about someone with whom you're in a relationship. It should be about celebrating those you love and who mean the world to you!

Super Bowl Finger Food: Crab Cake Recipe

Crab cakes may be synonymous with Maryland in general and Baltimore in particular, but these delectable seafood treats are made San Francisco-friendly with the use of Dungeness crab. I love Dungeness crabs almost as much as Lulu loves the Niners, so you could say that this dish is a match made in heaven. Except of course that Lulu’s a vegetarian (I’ll post a veggie version next week).

For all us seafood eaters, this is a super easy dish to prepare, which makes it perfect party fare. The only part that requires any real effort is cooking, cracking and collecting the crab meat, but the results are well worth it!