elizabeth - 7-4-2008 at 09:24 AM
I like to cook, and I like to experiment on my friends, who are generally willing to be guinea pigs (not the edible kind)!
Last weekend I had 10 friends over for a posole dinner.
I also made a bunch of appetizers for the late afternoon and c-cktails. One of the things I made was corn cakes (with both corn meal and fresh
charred grilled corn) which I topped with a mixture of crab meat, finely diced jalapeņos, tomatoes, and white onion, cilantro and just enough crema
mexicana to bind it all together.
These were a big hit, but I had more crab mixture than corn cakes, and it was the use of the leftover crab mixture the next day that was the bigger
hit!
I had two friends over for lunch and made a cold avocado soup. I topped it with the crab mixture...made a jalapeņo lime sorbet and put a tiny scoop
in the middle of the crab. My friends loved it, and I thought it turned out pretty well, too!
How is this Baja related? We talked about Loreto and diving both meals!
ELINVESTIG8R - 7-4-2008 at 09:34 AM
Big "E" would you please post recipes on how to make those dishes. They sound wonderful.
Diver - 7-4-2008 at 09:40 AM
Hmm..... we may be coming through Stinson for lunch on our way south in December.
Will you be there ?? 
howat - 7-4-2008 at 06:58 PM
Crab and avocado just go together. Back in the 1980s when i lived in Puerto Rico I'd go down to where the Dorado River meets the ocean. I'd crab
there at least once a week for blue claw crabs. My favorite crab recipe was a ripe avocado split in half and a mixture of crab meat and russian
dressing stuffed in the middle. A great cold appitizer for a hot humid day/nite. I still make it today with dungeness, rock or blue claw crabs.
HH
[Edited on 7-5-2008 by howat]
Paula - 7-4-2008 at 07:45 PM
That sounds so elegant and so delicious, Elizabeth!
And about those edible guinea pigs-- do you have a recipe?
dean miller - 7-4-2008 at 10:10 PM
After reading it I am hungry...
Did you dive for the crabs?
If so what kind? And where did you catch them?
sdm
Capt. George - 7-5-2008 at 04:45 AM
Blueclaw/Marinara Sauce
Clean crabs while alive, break off back shell, wash out lungs and intestines, crack all claws and legs...just plop em in the marinara sauce and let
simmer for a couple hours. to die for!!!
capt. mike - 7-5-2008 at 08:02 AM
Clean crabs while alive, break off back shell, wash out lungs and intestines, crack all claws and legs...
isn't there a more humane way to do this??
sounds like a good punishment for.....well use your imagination there.
do crabs feel pain or are they just annoyed a little over this??
Capt. George - 7-5-2008 at 10:12 AM
Mike,
first you tell the crabs what a wonderful sacrifice it is they're making, explaining how they will become martyrs and live forever in paradise...they
then go willingly to the operating table.......I learned this technique from a friend of mine, Abduhl, he's very astute along these lines.
Pain? perhaps, but I have not heard any of them screaming while I cleaned them up. It's the spaghetti I feel sorry for, flinging it into all that
boiling water, do you think spaghetti has any feelings? I hope not.
David K - 7-5-2008 at 10:17 AM
Crabs are people too! I hope this doesn't get the guilty feeling of the turtle
eating thread!
lingililingili - 7-5-2008 at 10:55 AM
Elizabeth: I would love that Jalapeno Lime Sorbet recipe!
ELINVESTIG8R - 7-5-2008 at 11:37 AM
My two cents. Lobsters do scream in pain because I have heard them back in the old days when Mama Espinoza put them into tubs of boiling water.
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals gives advice on how to humanely kill lobsters and crabs.
For the humane killing of lobsters, crabs and other crustaceans when used for food crustaceans should be chilled in air in a refrigerator or freezer
and then killed by splitting or spiking to destroy the nerve centers.
Whatever their status we should treat animals humanely whenever we interfere or impact upon their lives.
elizabeth - 7-5-2008 at 12:27 PM
elinvesti8 and lingililingili...Here are the recipes...sort of. I'm not very good at following recipes...I do tend to deviate from the directions!
The crabs were caught by a friend with crab pots. He gets the crab...I cook...and he, his wife and I, and others from time to time, eat.
The corn cakes were a variation of a corn fritter recipe...can't remember where I got it. 1 1/3 cups of yellow cornmeal, 6 tablespoons of all purpose
flour, 2 tsps sugar 1/4 tsp baking soda and 1/4 tsp salt all mixed together. Beat 2 eggs and 1 cup of buttermilk and add to the dry ingredients, mix
but not too much. Add corn cut from one large ear that has been grilled so some of the grains are carmelized, about 1/2 cup finely diced red onion,
and 1/4 cup finely diced jalapeņo. Drop in frying pan with about 1/4 inch of oil by about a tablespoon, and quickly spread to a circle that's about 1
1/2 or 2 inches. Fry both sides...it happens pretty quickly. Place on paper towels to drain all oil.
The crab topping starts out as if you are making salpicon de jaiba...pick and shred the crab, add some chopped rinsed and drained white onion, diced
jalapeņo, diced tomato and chopped cilantro...mix in just enough crema mexicana to make it hold together. Just add enough of the chopped vegetables
to add some interest, but not so much that it overcomes the crab.
The avocado soup was made with 3 avocados, one roasted peeled poblano pepper, chicken broth, lime juice (I used two little "key" limes)...all mixed up
in the blender. I added a couple of spoonfulls of crema...mixed it all up and chilled it.
The jalapeņo lime sorbet was a variation on a recipe that I found in cooking light....here's their recipe for Tequila Lime Sorbet with my variation:
1 1/2 cups of water, 3/4 cup of sugar (I used splenda) bring to a boil, and cook one minute. ( I quartered a jalapeņo pepper and put it in the sugar
water mixture before boiling, and left it in while chilling, then discarded it). Combine the sugar syrup 2 tsps grated lime rind, 1/2 cup fresh lime
juice and 2 tablespoons tequila (I also added a very very small amount of finely minced jalapeņo, and I used Herradura plata). Pour into the freezer
can of ice-cream maker, and then just follow the ice-cream maker directions. When done, spoon into a freezer container and freeze until firm.
Diver...just let me know when you're coming through...and I'll have lunch ready!!! I don't think anyone actually comes through here on a north-south
trip except for German tourists who have rented rv's and then freak out over how curvy the roads are!
Paula, guinea pig (cuy) is prepared in many different ways, for instance it's roasted whole with a pepper in its' mouth in Cuzco...I haven't tried any
guinea pig recipes, yet...somehow they just seem too cute to eat!
Paula - 7-5-2008 at 01:06 PM
Elizabeth,
When you said "edible" I thought you only meant the non-human kind. I hadn't guessed that people eat them, but I guess it isn't much different than
eating rabbit. I thought I was joking about recipes, and I can't imagine cooking one!
But I wasn't joking about the recipes sounding good. I made a similar corncake thing a while back, but I think my dish had shrimp instead of crab.
It was inspired by a recipe I didn't quite follow from a Santa Fe restaurant cookbook. I do want to try the soup and sorbet-- thank you for the
recipes!
ELINVESTIG8R - 7-5-2008 at 01:48 PM
Big "E" Thank you for the recipes. I think I will be able to make them base on what you wrote down. Again thank you.
David
Capt. George - 7-5-2008 at 02:27 PM
you heard the lobsters screaming? and I thought I was on too many drugs right now?
lobsters go in warm water then flame brought up and bugs boiled till done..does make the meat more tender that way..keeps the muscels form
contracting....
but where is my answer as to the ever boiling and suffering spaghetti?
bajalera - 7-7-2008 at 11:16 AM
What great recipes, Elizabeth!
wsdunc - 7-7-2008 at 11:39 AM
I ate guinea pig a couple of times in Bolivia. Not my favorite, kind of a wierd texture. I think I have a market photo of some, if I can find it
I'll post it.