Crabs Are Back In Season!

Here's the money shot of our lunch. Mr. Hawthorne came home with fresh crabmeat. YAY!!!! It's been so long since I've had this sweet delicacy. So I'm making a crabmeat dish for lunch and another crabmeat dish for dinner, because you just can't have too much crabmeat.

First, a crabmeat salad on endive.

My ingredients for the crabmeat salad, clockwise from top left: green, red, orange, and yellow peppers lime Texas Pete Grey Poupon Dijon Mayonnaise Crabmeat Green onion Celery Chives Tarragon Parsley

Clockwise from top left: Chopped chives, tarragon, and parsley, then minced celery, sliced green onions, and minced peppers.

First, I squeezed the juice of half a lime onto about 6 ounces crabmeat.

I added maybe 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise and 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard.

Celery and peppers went in and I gently mixed to combine all ingredients.

I spooned the crab mixture into endive leaves and sprinkled the chives, parsley, green onions, and tarragon over top and gave it a few drops of Texas Pete and a sprinkling of Hot Paprika.

I really liked this presentation. And even more, I liked the tastes. It was a perfect balance of flavors. I could taste the crab. I could taste the lime. The celery and peppers gave it a brightness and a crunch and a fresh flavor. The herbs were spot on. Once in a while, I would get the licorice/anise-like flavor of the tarragon, and it was ever so subtle. Not overpowering at all. (And I don't like licorice.) Just enough mayo to barely bind the ingredients and not make a mush or outdo the salad. I hate when restaurants make mayo the main ingredient of a salad. Mayo should be silent, in the background. The Texas Pete gave it a nice kick. And the endive was a perfect conveyor- fresh taste and crunch, nothing to compete with the delicate crab, only to balance behind the scenes.

After my first taste, I thought some freshly ground pepper couldn't hurt. And here's that word I don't like to use because it means everything and means nothing: DELICIOUS. There, I said it. In addition to my crabmeat and endive, we also had SOFT SHELL CRABS!!!! It's finally soft shell season so Mr. Hawthorne is a very happy camper.

Mr. Hawthorne expertly battered and fried up the softshells and we had three different dipping sauces: (From left to right.) Tartar Sauce (Mayo, dill pickles, sweet pickle relish) Remoulade Sauce. Creme fraiche with jalapeno, lime juice and zest, and cilantro.

An outstanding meal.