Crabmeat Maison

By norsegal8

Picking crabmeat is an art: you've got to get the hang of extracting the meat from the shell without creushing the crabmeat, making it stringy instead of light and lumpy. Before you mix the crabmeat with other ingredients, make sure that it's been properly picked through by feeling for shell bits. Here, jumbo lumps of crab are loosely held together with the rich and briny Sauce Ravigote.

Ingredients

• 2 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and minced
• 1 1/2 cups Basic Sauce Ravigote
• 1 tablespoon Creole mustard
• 1 shallot, minced
• leaves of 1 sprig fresh tarragon, minced
• 1 small handful of chives, minced
• 1 teaspoon capers, rinsed and chopped
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat
• salt
• Tabasco
• 3 handfuls seasonal lettuces
• 2 tablespooons Basic Walnut Oil Vinaigrette
• leaves from fresh herbs, such as dill or chive blossoms

Details

Servings 6

Preparation

Step 1

1. Mix together the eggs, Sauce Ravigote, mustard, shallots, tarragon, chives, capers and lemon juice in a mixing bowl. Fold in the crab, taking care not to break up the large lumps of meat. Season with salt and Tabasco.

2. Toss the lettuces with the Walnut Oil Vinaigrette in a mixing bowl.

3. Put a large spoonful of Crabmeat Maison on each of 6 to 8 salad plates. Arrange a tuft of dreeed greens on top of the crabmeat and scatter the fresh herbs over the top.