• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 490 0

if I had been given the following as a word problem in junior high, I might have actually rocked math: If a fabulous bread salad was on a train traveling east at 40 miles per hour, and a shipment of live Dungeness crabs was coming west traveling at 90 miles per hour, and just prior to impact someone threw some flaming tomatoes and fresh basil onto the tracks, how awesome would lunch be? You will have leftover dressing, which is a good thing, as you can spread it on toast, toss it with pasta or salad, serve it with Newspaper Crab with Three Sauces (page 53), or just eat it off a spoon.

SERVES 4 AS A LIGHT LUNCH

Preheat the broiler. Place a rack in the top third of the oven.

Toss the tomatoes with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, 1 teaspoon of the balsamic vinegar, a pinch of salt, and a grind of pepper. Spread the tomatoes on a foil-lined baking sheet. Broil for 5 minutes, or until the tomatoes are charred in spots. Transfer to a bowl and set aside, leaving the broiler on.

Add half of the tomatoes to a blender, along with half of the basil, the remaining ¼ cup olive oil and 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, and another pinch of salt and grind of pepper. Blend until the dressing is smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Toss the bread cubes with 2 tablespoons of the dressing. Spread them on the baking sheet and broil until lightly crispy in places, about 5 minutes. Stir the cubes and broil for another minute or two, until they are crispy all over. Set aside.

Double-check the crabmeat for any stray bits of shell. Gently squeeze out any excess moisture with your hands. Toss the crab with 2 tablespoons of the dressing. To serve, mix the crab with the reserved bread cubes, reserved tomatoes, and 2 more table-spoons of the dressing. Add more salt and pepper if necessary, and garnish with the remaining basil leaves.

PAIRING: A sparkling rosé, such as Graham Beck Brut 2007, South Africa, or a still rosé.

newspaper crab with three sauces

4 cooked, cleaned Dungeness

crabs

½ cup Soy Caramel Sauce

(recipe follows)

½ cup Avocado Herb Sauce

(recipe follows)

½ cup Lemon Panko Sauce

(recipe follows)

One of my favorite things to do when friends come to Seattle for the first time is to take them to Pike Place Market, where we pick out cooked and cleaned crabs, grab some local microbrews from Pike Place Brewery, then jump in the car and head to the Queen Anne neighborhood. I’ve got the Sunday paper, a blanket, and lots of paper towels in the car, and we lay out a picnic at this little park that overlooks the entire Seattle skyline. If it is raining—which, this being Seattle, it is wont to do—I take my guests back to my house, where I completely gild the lily by accompanying the crab with several sauces. I’m sure you’ll prefer one sauce over the others, but I’ve yet to meet anyone who didn’t shamelessly lick the bottom of the soy caramel bowl.

SERVES 4 OUT-OF-TOWN GUESTS

Lay several sheets of newspaper out on the table along with plenty of napkins and various tools for cracking (crab crackers, rolling pins). Serve the crabs with larger shared or smaller individual bowls of each sauce for dipping.

PAIRING: A sauvignon blanc, such as Cliff Lede 2008, Napa Valley, California, or a light beer, such as Pike Place Brewery’s Naughty Nellie.

SOY CARAMEL SAUCE

2 tablespoons soy sauce

¼ cup sake

3 tablespoons mirin

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

¼ cup (½ stick) cold unsalted

butter, cut into tablespoons

MAKES ABOUT ½ CUP

In a small saucepan, add the soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat and reduce to a simmer. Cook the sauce until it is reduced by half, 5 to 7 minutes. Turn the heat down to its lowest setting and whisk in the butter 1 tablespoon at a time, adding each only after the previous one has melted. Taste and add more lemon juice if desired.

AVOCADO HERB SAUCE

1 avocado, peeled and pitted

¼ cup packed fresh cilantro

leaves and stems

¼ cup plain Greek-style

yogurt

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

1 tablespoon