Avocado Crab Crostini | How Sweet It Is

Avocado Crab Crostini.

June 15, 2011

I’m interrupting your regularly scheduled morning routine of yawning, growling, scratching, showering and face-planting into a bowl of cereal to talk about crabs.

The good kind, not the… well… you know. The delicious kind that you suck out of claws and dunk in clarified butter and puree in bisque. The kind that shuffle sideways on the sand, pinchers high in the air. They’re kinda cute. Especially when you’re far away from them… or eating them.

I don’t really know how to find the words about crabs… mainly because I’m running on less than 4 hours of sleep after a straight up dance party and our own crab chasing on the beach ’til the wee hours of the morning. I’m exhausted and really old. In approximately 27 minutes I’ll start feeling like I’m about to die and do some of my own face-planting. But all you need to know is this: BUTTER.

Lots of it.

And if that’s not doable, combine it with some salty bacon and creamy avocado, because it’s like… reallllly good. Tomatoes too. I don’t really like them obviously, but I put them in there anyway to feel better about myself. Color is pretty. And bread is fun.

Avocado Crab Crostini

serves 4-6

1 pound of lump crab meat

1 avocado, pitted and chopped

1 cup of grape tomatoes, roughly chopped

4 slices of bacon, fried and crumbled

2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

juice of one lemon

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 french baguette (mine was about 16 inches long)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add one tablespoon of olive oil to a small bowl. Slice the baguette into rounds about 3/4 inch thick. Brush each round with olive oil and lay on a baking sheet. Bake for 6-8 minutes, or until baguette rounds are toasty and golden in color. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine crabmeat, tomatoes, bacon, avocado, tarragon, parsley, salt and pepper. Stir with a large spoon until the mixture is combined. Add in lemon juice and remaining olive oil, and continue to mix. The mixture will be somewhat “loose,” but as it sits the avocado will break down a bit and cause a more creamy texture.

Serve in a large bowl with multiple spoons and a plate of the baguette rounds.

On another note, I had some delicious She Crab soup on Monday night. A creamy, spicy, melt-in-your-mouth mishmash of smooth seafood… and a cluster of shells. Fail. I’d rather not chew my soup.