recipe: crab dip (T-day 3 of 5)

made this as an app for T-day, in the hopes it would taste even remotely as close to the crap dip from Tasty n Alder. while it wasn't quite the TnA dip, it was actually really damn good. i ate way more of it than i should and was barely all that hungry by the time T-day din came around. worth it though! 

*picture from allrecipes.com 

i used the Spicy Maryland Crab Dip recipe from allrecipes.com as a base recipe, adjusting things a bit to our own taste. 

ingredients list: 

- 1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened

- 1/2 cup sour cream

- 1/2 cup mayonnaise

- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

- 1 & 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

- 3 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 tsp dry mustard

- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

- 3/4 lb fresh crab meat

- 3 dashes hot sauce

- Old Bay seasoning to taste

- bread, pita chips, blue corn tortilla chips for dippin

to make: 

preheat oven to 325 degrees F. lightly grease an 8x8" baking dish, and set aside.

in a medium bowl, mix cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, Parmesan cheese, majo, lemon juice, Worcestershire, garlic, mustard, and about half of the cheddar cheese. fold in crab meat, hot sauce, and Old Bay.

transfer mixture to the prepared baking dish, and top with remaining cheddar cheese. bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned. 

recipe: corn and crab bisque

terrible picture, delicious soup!

one of the perks of living in the PNW is that every now & again alaskan king crab legs will pop up in the grocery store on sale for $9.99/lb. yesterday was one such event, so it seemed like the perfect opp to cook a nice din for the man piece. i decided to make a crab bisque, using the Corn and Crab Bisque recipe from allrecipes.com. 

i made a few adjustments, adding in some Old Bay seasoning (seemed like a sin not to have the OB in the pot), shallots, extra garlic, white wine, swapping canned chicken broth for homemade crab stock that i had frozen, and double the amount of crab. 

it came out fantastic, although i personally prefer a little bit thicker/creamier of a soup... next time i think i'd cut back slightly on the seafood stock. and possibly add in bacon into the pan with the onion/garlic mixture... that sweet & smokey bacon flavor would have been dope in this. 

ingredients list (scaled back to 4 servings):
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup shallot, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup wine
- 21 ounces (roughly) of crab stock or chicken broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp cajun seasoning
- 1/4 tsp old bay seasoning
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 
- 2 ears corn, kernels cut from cob
- 1/4 cup half-and-half
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 lb fresh crab meat
- salt & pepper to taste

recipe: baked crab rangoons

i found this recipe on foodgawker.com, and it was perfect for the 2nd app i was making for a party. easy, but delish. the recipe itself is taken from My Baking Addiction:

ingredients list:  

- 1 can (6 oz.) white crabmeat, drained and chopped
- 8 oz. (1 pkg) cream cheese, softened
- 2 tbsp light mayo
- 1/2 tsp Sriracha
- 2 tsp sliced chives, + more for garnish
- ground pepper to taste
- 20 (or so) won ton wrappers

to make: preheat oven to 350 degrees. mix crabmeat, cream cheese, mayo, Sriracha, chives, and pepper in a small bowl until well combined. place 1 wonton wrapper in each cup of a mini muffin tin (i had to trim about 1/4 inch off 2 sides of the wonton wrappers so there wasn't too much overhang). fill center of each wonton wrapped with 1 heaping tsp of crab mixture. bake for 5-10 minutes until edges of cups are golden brown and filling is heated through. garnish with reserved chives.
***
so... i actually thought these were just "eh". i really liked the idea of baking the rangoons to avoid all of those fry-calories, in addition to having a cuter presentation... but if you still have chinese take out fry-flavor in your mind, it will mess you up. you have to think of these as just a "crab app", NOT the standard crab rangoon. in addition, the great part about these is that they taste just like real, fresh crab. crab rangoons really taste nothing like crab... so if you're not a crabby person, you will not like these. overall census was just that. crab lovers LOVED these, the ones that aren't into crab were not (seems pretty logical actually). i'm a crab liker, so i think for me these were more like a 5 *****. apparently fried and minimal crab / fake crab mixture is more my speed!