Cool Cuke and Crab Salad

By Dana McMahan FoodConnect Louisville foodconnect.com@gmail.com Cool Cuke and Crab Salad Did you know you could do more with those cans of crab meat than make crab cakes? I didn’t either! I thought when making crab salad you needed the expensive proper crab meat from the seafood section. Which is why I’ve made crab salad exactly one time. But then I came across a lovely little crab salad on Chocolate & Zucchini that sounded perfect for the picnic I was planning last weekend. Better still it used one of my farm share cucumbers, and looked very simple. My husband sniffed a little haughtily about using canned crab but I knew Clotilde wouldn’t steer us wrong, so I forged ahead, making a couple modifications. I liked the Asian flair of the original recipe so I kicked that up a bit, replacing garlic with ginger (you could even use both) and adding chili oil from the Oriental Supermarket near my instead of chili powder (I wanted the clean heat without the smoky flavor). I also used green onions instead of chives because my farm share gave me green onions. It ended up a beautiful summer salad – cool but with a little heat to balance the cucumbers, and the verdict on the canned crab? The powerful flavors from the sesame oil and rice vinegar would have made the fancy expensive crab a waste. Here’s my take on a cool cucumber and crab salad (the original is here.) Makes 2 good-sized or 4 small portions one large cucumber a 6 oz can of crab meat 2 or 3 green onions 1 heaping tsp minced ginger 1 Tbsp sesame oil 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp rice vinegar a few drops of chili oil, or a sprinkle of cayenne pepper salt Lettuce leaves for serving Rice crackers Peel, deseed and dice the cucumber. Sprinkle with salt and set aside in a strainer (this will help eliminate some of the liquid). Drain the crab meat. Rinse and chop the green onions. In a medium salad bowl, combine the sesame oil, rice vinegar and chili oil. Stir in the crab meat, green onions and ginger, and toss to coat. Drain the cucumber and combine with the crab mixture. Chill for at least 30 minutes so the flavors will combine. For an elegant presentation serve chilled in a martini glass on a bed of one crisp lettuce leaf, with fresh rice crackers. Or, scoop into a portable container and take on a picnic!