Crab with mango-avocado salsa

Mango-avocado salsa is definitely one of my favorite things to eat. Especially in the summer when its really hot out, sort of like right now. I've probably mentioned that I can sit there and eat this with a spoon, but I thought I'd mix things up today. I'd add CRABMEAT! I don't know how appealing this sounds to you, but I thought it was a darn good idea.

The idea took shape a couple weeks (months?) ago, when I bought some crabmeat. It was frozen, so I didn't think much about putting it in my freezer, but then I realized that it was still in my freezer, and its not like it gets any better the longer I leave it there. So, I decided that now was the time to thaw it out and see if it was worth paying eight times (I kid you not) per pound what you pay for the imitation stuff. I wasn't sure if it were cooked, I sniffed it and it smelled a little fishy, so I figured I'd saute it a while in some butter. Because that makes most things taste better. After a couple minutes in the pan with butter, salt, pepper, and a little lime juice, it smelled much more appetizing, and it tasted good too. Lets talk about the taste for a minute. When I took my first bite, I was like, "wow. This is good". I slowly savored that mouthful, and then took another one. This time, I was thinking more "this is good. But its not really $30/lb good". I have had softshell crabs before, and those are totally worth the price. I'll be going that route from now on. Anyway, my point is that this real crab stuff was good, but definitely not worth the cost to me.

Not one to be discouraged, I figured I'd forge ahead and just not think about how much every bite was costing me. There was also the fact that I'd bought the avocado from Whole Foods, so it was a $2.29 avocado, which is about $1.69 more than I'd like to pay. I stood there for a solid two minutes agonizing about buying this avocado. In the end, it was worth it, because it was a delicious avocado. But boy. This was an expensive one.

Price aside, I totally recommend this dish. I could see it being a really good appetizer type thing. I ate it for lunch, but I also sometimes eat leftover salad for breakfast, so I'm no standard to live by. I had leftover tortillas in my fridge, the big burrito kind, that were definitely on the hard side of things. So, I cut them into wedges and pan-fried them until they were crispy and golden. That went really well with my crab-avocado-mango salsa. I cooked one side in the oil, then when that side was golden, I flipped them and salted the other side. It took about four minutes per batch.


You can get the recipe for the salsa here, so I won't write it again. Except this time I used an entire lime and only one mango. Just mix in some crabmeat, and then if you want it to look pretty, pack it into a bowl, and invert the bowl on a plate.