Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms: Your Fail-Proof Holiday App

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Looking for a last minute appetizer to serve at your New Year’s Eve bash or New Year’s Day dinner? (If you’re thinking, wow, this girl just uses the new year as an excuse for one last chance to pig out, YES, you are right, what’s your point?)

These stuffed mushrooms are IT. Everyone loves a stuffed mush at a party, and these ones are especially luxurious thanks to the fact that they’re stuffed with crab! Despite their fanciness, they take about 10 minutes to put together and are almost impossible to mess up.

Festive Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

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Crab Rangoon Crock Pot Dip

Ultimate Crab Rangoon Dip with Wonton Chips

Crab Rangoon Crock Pot Dip

We threw a holiday party last night and I wanted to make something a little different, and also wanted to use my new-ish crock pot so I wouldn’t have to stand over the stove while we had people over. While brainstorming about my favorite drunk foods, I realized I wanted to make crab rangoon, or even easier, reverse crab rangoon aka a crab rangoon dip. (If dip counts as “reverse,” not sure, you know what I mean.)

A quick search on the ol’ internet taught me that I was not the first person to think of a crab rangoon dip, but a lot of the recipes from Pinterest just seemed a little basic (in the purest sense of the word). Crab, cream cheese, basically done. I attempted to elevate mine to the next level by incorporating more Asian ingredients and baking my own wonton chips, which is actually incredibly easy. This dip was devoured at my party. It’s perfect for a big gathering of boozy friends, say, your own holiday or new year’s party?

Ultimate Crab Rangoon Dip with Wonton Chips

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Pirhana Vietnamese Summer Roll

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Pirhana Vietnamese Summer Roll

I’ve always loved sushi, but ever since I worked for a sushi restaurant during college in my early 20s and got used to eating it on a daily basis, I’ve been even more obsessed. I crave raw fish. One thing I don’t really like? All that rice. I usually pick off most of it, to the disgust of my dining companions.

Anyway, this leads me to search for rolls with little to no rice so I can pack in the protein. I found my new favorite sushi roll at Pirhana Killer Sushi in downtown Austin. It’s the Vietnamese Summer Roll: salmon, tuna, crab, greens, mango, and asparagus wrapped with rice paper. Tons of fish, tons of fruit and vegetables, and no rice! Sushi heaven.

Breaking it Down: Deconstructed Sushi Salad

Sushi is one of my favorite foods in the world. Sometimes, though, it can be a real pain to procure. If I’m not in the mood to hit up a restaurant, what am I supposed to do? Roll my own sushi at home? A fun activity, but pretty time-intensive for the average American. Who has a sushi mat, anyway? So I came up with the next best thing—or maybe even better: sushi salad!

That might sound a little weird, but let me explain. All you do is break down all of your favorite parts of a sushi roll—rice, seaweed, fish, and fun condiments like soy sauce, wasabi, and ginger—and serve them over spicy Japanese greens, and there you have it: a beautiful and fun-to-eat plate! Sugoi!

While sushi used to be super exotic, these days it’s pretty easy to find most of the more unique ingredients in mainstream grocery stores. Pickled ginger and wasabi paste are readily available in the Asian section, and even seaweed has become pretty accessible; for example these seaweed snacks by Annie Chun’s even come in non-intimidating packaging and cool flavors (like wasabi—perfect for this salad).

Deconstructed Hot & Cold Sushi Salad

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Not Your Average Easter Eggs

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or you know, aren’t an East Coast elitist food snob), you know that deviled eggs are trendy. But you couldn’t show up to Easter Brunch with just plain old deviled eggs, now could you?

No, you couldn’t. But never fear, chef Adam Carpenter of Jasper’s Corner Tap and Kitchen in San Francisco has three original recipes for deviled eggs: one that uses the season’s bounty (spring peas!), one that gets creative with a classic recipe, and one that is just right for ESers (bacon!)

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Gridiron Grub: Polenta Crab Fries

Starting Monday, you’ll hear all about the dining/debauchery that went on when the entire ES crew descended upon Philly for a weekend. To ease us into that, here’s a Gridiron Grub dish inspired by my favorite football-related Philly food stop: Chickie and Pete’s Crab Fries.

Chickie and Pete’s is a local restaurant that started in the late 70’s and has grown to include locations in all the city’s stadiums, Philadelphia International Airport, southern New Jersey and more. It sounds like a chain and out-of-towners grow even more perplexed by the fact that these “crab” fries don’t even contain crab. Despite this obvious omission, for locals they are synonymous with hot summer nights watching the Phils and cool fall afternoons with the Eagles. That being said, if you are not from Philly and you saw ES  put up a recipe about sprinkling some Old Bay on french fries, I know we would get even more complaints than we do about our potty mouths. So, here’s my updated take, with some much needed crustacean added in.

Polenta Crab Fries w/Horseradish Cream Sauce

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Founding Farmers’ Devilish Eggs

D.C. restaurant Founding Farmers wasn’t content to just get in on the deviled egg craze, they had to own it. The eco-friendly restaurant serves four distinct kinds of D.E.s and were kind enough to share all of their recipes with ES.

 

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