By Narcissa Lyons

Level of Difficulty:  Easy but a little bit of time, say an hour (ideal if you have Hungarian Mayonnaise ready made)

I made this a few weeks ago combining a couple of recipes and a whim or two, and it turned out scrumptious–a party success.  It’s easy, with only a moderate involvement of time.  You’ll note the seafood ingredient is imitation crab meat.  You can use the real thing, or any seafood I suppose, but the consistency and sweetness of the fake stuff make it a better candidate I think.  Plus it looks more attractive.  That said, a good alternate would be squid.  Anyway, on with it.

Recipe is for a party.  Maybe halve it for the family.

 

2lb. imitation crab meat (pieces, NOT the “leg” version)

1 orange or yellow pepper, as thinly sliced as possible, strips then cut in half

1 red pepper, as thinly sliced as possible, strips then cut in half

1-1/2 to 2 stalks inner bunch stalks (lighter green), paper thin sliced

1 bunch red grapes, cut in half

1 bunch chives, chopped

1-1/2 tsp. tarragon

Salt and pepper to taste

~1-1/2  cups Hungarian Mayonnaise (amount varies depending on your dressing to salad ratio preference.  Play with it).

Put the sliced peppers and celery in a sieve and sprinkle with about a teaspoon of salt and mix up.  Place the sieve over a plate or some kind of liquid catcher because you are here trying to get rid of the excess water from these juicy vegetables.  Put in fridge, occasionally pressing down on the veggies to help squeeze out the water.  I think this drying out need not take more than an hour.  While that is transpiring, flake the crab pieces.  I cannot stress enough here how important it is to flake all the crab chunks so that the human mouth perceives the feel of “real” crab.  This makes a big difference for this salad, and really anywhere you use this type of crab.  In a large bowl, combine the vegetables from the sieve, crab meat, grapes and chives.  Toss on the tarragon and salt and pepper.  Pour the mayonnaise over the ingredients and gently mix everything together.  Taste and adjust spices/mayonnaise as you deem fit.  Make sure wherever you bring this that it is not in direct sunlight.  Salmonella ain’t fun.