When I picked up my Fog City Diner cookbook and decided to cook out of it, I went to send an e-mail to my friend in Discovery Bay. She and her husband had given me the book for my birthday back in 93. I thought it was a good sign that when I logged on, I had an e-mail from her out of the blue. Timing....
I thought, looking at this recipe, that it would be much tougher to make...you have to prepare two dressings...but it actually wasn't that hard or time consuming. The salad tasted great, but the Thousand Island Dressing really made the dish.
CRAB LOUIS WITH THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING
9 cups mixed greens
6 Tablespoons House Vinaigrette (recipe follows)
1 pound crab meat, cleaned of any shell fragments
18 cherry tomatoes or wedges of ripe tomato
6 hard-boiled eggs, cut in wedges
6 wedges or 12 slices avocado (optional)
6 lemon wedges
2 cups Thousand Island Dressing (see previous post)
2 tablespoons chopped and squeezed parsley
Lightly toss the greens in the vinaigrette and divide them among the plates. Place a mound of crab meat on top of the greens and surround it with the tomatoes and wedges of hard-boiled egg, avocado, and lemon. Dress each serving with 2 Tablespoons of the Thousand Island Dressing and garnish with parsley. Serve with the remaining dressing on the side. Serves 6
Note: I didn't measure the greens, the amount of tomatoes etc. I just added some lettuce to the dish, poured on vinaigrette, added some crab meat in the middle and surrounded it with avocado chunks, egg and halved cherry tomatoes and then added some of the Thousand Island Dressing. I also didn't use fresh crab, I used a really good can of lump crab meat. Also omitted the parsley.
HOUSE VINAIGRETTE
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 shallots, peeled and minced
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Kosher or sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup virgin olive oil
In a mixing bowl, combine the vinegars, shallots, mustard, salt and pepper. Gradually whisk in the oils and continue to whisk until thoroughly emulsified. Keep refrigerated. Mix the dressing well again just before using, as the ingredients will separate. This dressing will keep for several days in the fridge. Makes one cup.
Note: Why regular olive oil and extra virgin? Don't know. But I bought a small bottle of regular and used it. Why put this dressing on the salad greens when you already have the Thousand Island Dressing? Don't know that either but I used it. This dressing is really good on it's own and worked well with just regular salads.
The whole thing together tasted very good. Very easy to throw together and if you make the vinaigrette and Thousand Island Dressing ahead of time very quick. The Thousand Island Dressing is WONDERFUL and I would recommend that above all else.
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