Dungeness Crab Salad with Cucumber Jelly, Grainy Mustard Vinaigrette, and Frisée Lettuce

I know, I know... this was supposed to be a Dungeness Crab Salad. But, but... but... I live in Maryland. You know, like, where blue crabs rule the world? I felt like I might suffer from a serious mo-fo IRS audit if I use crab other than Maryland crab, so that's what I used in this dish, which was actually quite easy and made me happy that summer is on its way. Every summer whenever I make crabcakes here at home, I usually make a really fresh extra-cucumber tzatziki to go with them, and that's what this dish reminded me of. Let's get started. Here's the mise:


First up? The cucumber jelly. Dudes, I made MY OWN cucumber juice. I KNOW. I am so awesome. I rough-chopped the cucumber, liquefied it in the blender and strained it twice and wouldn't ya know, it made exactly a cup of cucumber juice? I rock.

I saved a bit of the whole cucumber and made cuke diamonds with it. They look more like cucumber parallelograms, but I'm okay with that:


Next, I soaked a sheet and a quarter of gelatin in cold water for about five minutes, then dissolved it in a bowl over a pot of hot water:


When it was dissolved, I added the cucumber juice, removed it from the heat and made sure it was mixed well. The French Laundry Cookbook instructs you to pour 2-3T of the gelatin mixture into the bottom of shallow serving bowls. I don't have any of those, so I improvised and used the plates so many of you seem to like. I covered the bottom with the gelatin, added in the cucumber parallelograms, and the small sprigs of dill and let all six plates chill in the fridge for a little over an hour:


The plate up front with the heap o' dill? Mine. I love dill as much as I love garlic and bacon. And lobster. And Stephen Durfee, my new best friend. More on that later.

I knew the neighbor girls and I were getting together for our regular Friday afternoon cocktails, so once the plates had chilled and the gelatin was set, I called and gave them the ten-minute warning to get their butts over here to try this dish. In the meantime, I got the crab salad ready, which involved whipping some heavy cream to just before it got to the stiff-peak stage (>snerk<), then added some fresh-ground salt, white pepper and wholegrain mustard:


I put the crabmeat in a separate bowl and folded in just enough of the whipped cream mixture to bind it. Next, I tossed the baby arugula with about 3T of shredded daikon radish and a wee bit of olive oil Oh, and even though the recipe headline says there's Frisée in this dish, ain't no thang. The ingredients list suggests baby arugula, baby beet greens, or amaranth, so I went with arugula because I love it so:


It's time to plate. See how easy this was? No steeping or poaching in butter or making movies about annoying Canadian singers.

Here we go... first, a heaping spoonful of crabmeat (I decided not to use the 2" ring mold option because I was hungry and wanted to get this on the table so we could enjoy our afternoon):


Then, for the final step, I topped it with the arugula/radish mixture:


It was a semi-hit with the kids and the adults loved it. Would I make this again? Probably not this exact recipe, but I'd adapt it as a canapé somehow. I love the taste of crab and cucumber together, and the cucumber definitely balanced the richness of the crab salad. I'm a big fan of wholegrain mustard, so that added a nice zip to this dish... otherwise, I think it might've been slightly bland. I also added some salt and pepper to the arugula/daikon radish mix because it needed it. I also love radishes, so I was happy to have that be a part of it, as well.

Before I go, let me take a moment to tip my hat (or just toss my hair) to Mr. Stephen Durfee, the pastry chef at The French Laundry when the French Laundry Cookbook was released. You may remember that I busted on him here. Mr. Durfee got in touch with me this week to tell me he heard about the site, has been reading it, and wanted to let me know that while he was the man behind the creation of the dreaded Candied Apple annoyance, he is also responsible for the only dessert I would ever take a bath in, the Cream of Walnut Soup, as well as the amazing Strawberry Shortcakes. He was incredibly funny in his message and the mere fact that he reached out to get in touch with me says to me that he is definitely a stand-up guy. So, with that, I can now say I love Stephen Durfee, and we are going to get married and raise little Candy Apple babies and... oh... yeah, that's so not happening. But seriously, Stephen Durfee? You're alright in my book. FOR NOW.

Up Next: Verjus Sorbet with Poached Peaches or Strawberry Terrine (Verjus is hard to find here in DC -- if you know where I can buy some, email me!)

Brands Used:
Cucumber and daikon radish from Wegmans
Gelatin sheets from King Arthur Flour
Crabmeat from the great state of Maryland
Organic Valley cream
Delouis organic whole grain mustard
Baby arugula from TPSS Co-op

Music to Cook By: Soundtrack to South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut; because I am twelve, apparently, and still laugh at the song about Kyle's mom. And, all night I've been singing "What Would Brian Boitano Do" and that's not annoying AT ALL. I haven't been singing "Blame Canada" though, which is interesting given my previous post. I will also 'fess up to listening to some DeBarge during the process. And not just regular old DeBarge, El DeBarge and "Who's Johnny," if you must know. Whew. I feel better getting that off my chest.