FFWD: CRAB SALAD & FLAG-WAVING
National Flag Day, June 14th
You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, Know when to walk away, Know when to run.
Kenny Rogers
I once was required to take a psychological test as part of an employment application. Maybe I was in my late thirties. While discussing the results with me, the male evaluator mentioned that I would keep hitting my head against the wall to get something done. “You just won’t give up,” he said, shaking his head.
I beamed with pride. “Got the job,” I thought to myself.
“That’s not a compliment,” he quickly added.
“What a jerk,” I thought to myself.
End of the Story: I got the job and succeeded. Head. Wall. Banging.
Crab-Avocado “Ravioli”
Admittedly, despite my success, he wasn’t all wrong. I understand the need to sometimes give up or give in. I’ve just never learned to do that well. This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice, Crab-Avocado Ravioli, put me to the supreme test. I glanced at the recipe and then heard that my colleague, Diane, had already drawn blood. I folded. Readers, it was the fastest “fold” of my lifetime.
Amy Butler’s 2013 Galaxie Rosé
Crab-Avocado Ravioli is a deliciously divine crab salad mixed with lime zest/juice, minced shallots, cilantro and olive oil. I used Pasolivo’s California Blend olive oil and also added Penzey’s Sunny Paris seasoning. The avocado-part of the recipe is when it gets “twicky”. Dorie suggests slicing avocados on a mandoline without peeling or pitting them first.
(Memo to Ms. Greenspan: Now, Dorie, you know me well enough to realize this could just not happen in my kitchen.)
During our birding field trip this week, we watched a very noisy House Wren and a determined Tree Swallow duke it out over a excavated tree cavity nest originally chiseled out by a woodpecker!
Despite going rogue on this recipe, I enjoyed a lovely lunch of Crab Salad embellished with avocado and washed down with Amy Butler’s Ranchero Cellars 2013 Galaxie Rosé. The next day I turned the remaining salad into a mouth-watering Crab Roll, my picnic lunch during an all-day Audubon field trip. My blogging companions, Susan and John, can always turn leftovers into spectacular main entrées. See their magic, Crab Risotto with Artichoke Hearts, here.
Tomorrow, June 14th, is National Flag Day, a celebratory nod to our Stars and Stripes. The first official flag – the blue canton contained 13 stars – was approved by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777. For the past 237 years it has stood (and, fallen) as a symbol of hope and glory and gratefulness throughout the world. Bravo to the Red, White and Blue and may we sometimes just remember and honor all that is right and good about this country.
French Fridays with Dorie is an international cooking group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around my French Table. You can grab this week’s recipe from Liz, another Dorista. To see which flags my FFWD colleagues from around the world fly, go to our link here.