AVOCADO CRAB LOUIS

It’s still a scorcher out there, and the summer ain’t over yet.  So how about preparing the “King of Salads,” Crab Louis (also known as Crab Louie). It features crabmeat and the recipe itself, culinary historians state, dates back to the early 1900s. No one knows the exact date of its creation, but it was being served in prominent San Francisco restaurants by 1908. The version we feature is Crab Louis with avocado an an addition. The recipe itself is from a cookbook, The Book of Salads (HP Books) which was published in 1989. The book was a gift from a fellow martial artists who knew of my interest in cooking and dining. The only change I made in the recipe is that I added tomato wedges for more variety and color.

AVOCADO CRAB LOUIS

Ingredients:

Seafood Sauce (see below)
8 oz. plain white crabmeat, flaked (equal to two 4 oz. cans)
2 medium avocados
Juice of ½  Lemon
Fresh chervil sprigs
1 medium tomato, cut in wedges

Seafood Sauce:
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon ketchup
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup half and half
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Dash of dry sherry
Pinch of red cayenne pepper

Instructions:

1, To prepare seafood sauce: place all sauce ingredients in a bowl and blend well (or do it in a blender).
2.  Fold crabmeat into sauce. Pit, peel and slice avocados, then sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent discoloring.
3.  Place crabmeat in center of a serving platter, and arrange avocado slices and tomato wedges around it. Garnish with chervil sprigs and serve with crusty bread. If desired, you can also arrange the avocado/tomato on 4 individual plates, garnish with chervil, and serve.
Yield: 4 servings.