Crab Salad with Apple

 

Oh, all those plans I had, to spend Christmas with our friends aka the childcare bubble, and have some semblance of normality. I have bought plenty of food to please all tastes and diets (gluten free, vegetarian, meat eaters). But as they say, man proposes, God disposes. On the last day of school our son got poorly, and a few days later we discovered he tested positive and we all needed to self-isolate.

We informed our friends, and I felt rather guilty that they had to change their plans accordingly, and would need to buy and prepare their own Christmas meal. 

I had to re-think what to do with some of the foods. The turkey crown went in the freezer. I did cook a small ham for our boys at Christmas and also a nut roast, plus lots of veggies for grown-ups, but didn't bother with the cranberry sauce or any side dishes like pigs in blankets or stuffing. 

On the original menu I was planning to do a big platter with blini as a starter - with smoked salmon and crab meat, as well as vegetarian "scampi" and pickled carrots. The crab meat tin has been sitting in the fridge for several weeks, and finally I decided to make a crab salad with it. It is similar to the Soviet crab salad, though in the days of my childhood we rarely had access to the crab meat (you had to live somewhere nearby the sea to get access to this product, or be a member of the apparatchik's family), and used the seafood sticks, which of course, are anything but crab meat. 

For this quick and easy recipe you will need:

100g crab meat (or seafood sticks)

1 small apple, grated or finely chopped

2 hard-boiled eggs, grated or finely chopped

60g hard cheese (like Emmental), grated or cubed

1 small carrot, cooked and chopped finely

1 medium potato, cooked and chopped

3tbsp aioli with garlic (or garlic mayo)

juice of 1/2 small lime

lettuce, to serve in

First, cook a potato and carrot in slightly salted water. Peel and chot finely. Hard-boil a couple of eggs. Once cold, grate them.

In a big mixing bowl, mix together grated eggs, potato, carrot, crab meat, grated cheese. Add the aioli and lime juice, and mix well. 

If you don't have aioli, mayonnaise (with/out garlic) will do, and lime could be substituted with lemon juice. 

Season with salt and a bit of pepper.

Spoon the crab salad into salad leaves to serve.

There are several variations on the theme. Some cooks prefer to use rice rather than potato. Many add several tablespoons of tinned sweetcorn.

It's a lovely, quite light old-fashioned salad.

I have googled what could be a vegetarian/vegan substitute for crab meat, and apparently, it is a shredded jackfruit, palm or artichoke hearts. I haven't tried them as a crab meat substitute, so cannot vouch for how much the flavour is altered. I love artichokes in oil, and often use them in salads, but the taste is very distinct, and nothing like seafood. I guess, you just need to re-think the whole concept.

In this recipe I used Leon Aioli, which was one of the products from the latest Degustabox. This garlic mayo has been the heart of LEON restaurant menus since 2004. This mayo is made with aquafaba (chickpea stock) instead of eggs, and happens to be vegan. To be honest, if I didn't know it is made without eggs, I wouldn't have guessed. So, if you're doing a Veganuary (which I don't), and are looking for great subs for family favourites, this mayo is very creamy and tasty.