Crabmeat Salad Faulk

By corlear

Chef’s Note: In another life this was a Salad Maison. We perfected the dish for a most special guest of Brennan’s of Houston, Carolyn Faulk, and it is now a classic in its new re-christened form!

Chef’s Tips: For a more dramatic presentation, press crabmeat mixture into a small cup or a 2-inch ring mold and invert onto greens. Use canned or bottled pimientos for the roasted red bell pepper and a good quality, store-bought vinaigrette to save time in preparing this dish.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup Herb Vinaigrette, divided (see recipe)
• 1 large red bell pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup button, or assorted wild, mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon Creole Seafood Seasoning (see recipe)
• 6 strips cooked bacon, crumbled
• 1/2 cup hearts of palm
• 1 medium avocado
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, cleaned and picked over
• 2 dashes Louisiana hot pepper sauce
• 6 cups mixed baby greens
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 6 chives, cut into 1-inch lengths

Details

Servings 6

Preparation

Step 1

Prepare Herb Vinaigrette; reserve until needed.

Roast bell pepper under broiler until heavily blistered. Place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and cool at least 10 minutes.

With small knife, scrape skin off of pepper. Rub pepper with paper towel to remove seeds. Cut pepper into small dice to yield 3/4 cup; refrigerate until needed.

Heat oil in a large skillet; add mushrooms and seafood seasoning. Sauté until mushrooms start to brown and are heated through. Cool mushrooms; cut into quarters and refrigerate until needed.

Slice hearts of palm into half moons, 1/4 inch thick; refrigerate until needed.

Peel avocado, cut into small dice to yield 1/2 cup and toss with lemon juice to help retain color.

In a large bowl, toss bell pepper, mushrooms, bacon, hearts of palm, avocado, crabmeat, hot sauce and 3 tablespoons reserved Herb Vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper.

In another large bowl, toss greens with 3 tablespoons vinaigrette. Adjust seasonings. Divide greens among 6 plates and top each with 2/3 cup crabmeat mixture. Drizzle remaining 6 tablespoons vinaigrette over tops of salads; garnish with chives.