Salade de Concombre au Crabe
Paris went through a miniature heatwave last week — it certainly felt nice to take the skirts, tank tops and strappy sandals out of their winter residence — and lunchtime on Saturday found me craving for something easy and fresh.
I slipped on my creative goggles and took another look through the contents of the fridge. A cucumber salad was quickly envisioned, and I decided to finally use one of the crab meat cans I’d bought many moons ago to make crab cakes (and never did).
The refrigerator was in dire need of replenishing, not exactly empty but certainly devoid of exciting things. I considered going out to buy a few things, but quickly decided against it. Midday is the worst time to be out running food errands, as the stores then are crowded with hungry people whose very hunger makes them impatient and crabby — or maybe it’s just me.
So. I slipped on my creative goggles and took another look through the contents of the fridge. A cucumber salad was quickly envisioned, and I decided to finally — finally! — use one of the crab meat cans I had bought many moons ago to make crab cakes and never did. Thankfully those things keep for zillions of moons so they were still fresh as a bud, if a little dusty.
The resulting salad turned out to be exactly what we needed — super easy to make, fresh and zingy, and lovely to look at, too, with its soft green soft pink accents.
Have you tried this? Share your pics on Instagram!
Please tag your pictures with #cnzrecipes. I'll share my favorites!
Ingredients
- one large cucumber
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- ground chili, to taste
- 120 grams (4.25 ounces) crab meat, fresh or canned, drained if canned
- a small bunch of chives, chopped
- one clove garlic, finely minced (I used fresh because it's in season, but regular will do fine)
- salt
Instructions
- Peel, deseed and dice the cucumber. Sprinkle with salt and set aside in a strainer.
- In a medium salad bowl, combine the sesame oil, rice vinegar and a sprinkle of chili powder. Add in the crab meat, chives and garlic, and toss to coat.
- Drain the cucumber (the salt will have forced some of the juices out) and combine with the crab mixture. Keep in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes so the flavors will blend and settle. Serve chilled, with fresh bread or crackers.
