Avocado and Crabmeat Mimosa

Have you ever came home from a restaurant and wanted to remake a dish from that meal? Dining on Valentine’s day and falling in love with an appetizer led to this recipe. The New York Times food critic Craig Claiborne in July 1963 wrote, “The fruit known as the avocado is as adaptable as gelatin, it complements crab meat and other sea food and has a natural affinity for tomato and onion, oil and vinegar.”

Photo Credit: Nina Gallant

Avocado and Crabmeat Mimosa
From The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook: Inside the Kitchens, Bars, and Restaurants of Mad Men by Judy Gelman and Peter Zheutlin (Smart Pop, 2011).

Ingredients:

-2 ripe avocados

-1 scallion, minced

-2 teaspoons lemon juice, divided

-¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt, plus additional to taste

-Dash of hot pepper sauce

-3 tablespoons mayonnaise

-2 tablespoons chili sauce

-1 tablespoon prepared horseradish

-¹⁄₂ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

-Ground white pepper

-8 ounces cooked fresh crabmeat

-2 cups watercress

-2 hard cooked egg yolks

-1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Preparation:

1. Peel half of one avocado. In a small bowl, mash avocado half. Add scallion, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, ¹⁄₄ _teaspoon of salt, and hot pepper sauce. Stir until well combined. Reserve.

2. In separate bowl, stir together mayonnaise, chili sauce, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, and remaining teaspoon lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Reserve.

3. Peel remaining 1¹⁄₂ _avocados, cut into half-inch cubes, and place in a large bowl. Squeeze excess moisture from crabmeat. Add to cubed avocado and gently combine. Fold in mayonnaise

4. Line bottoms of 6 chilled open champagne glasses or small glass serving dishes with watercress. Divide crab mixture evenly among glasses. Top each with a dollop of mashed avocado mixture.

5. Press egg yolks through fine mesh sieve; combine with parsley in a small bowl. Sprinkle yolk/parsley mixture evenly over each portion. Mimosas can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 hours.

Yield: 4 servings

Judy Gelman is co-author of The Book Club Cookbook: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club’s Favorite Books and Authors (Penguin, 2004), the first cookbook designed for book discussion groups. The second edition of The Book Club Cookbook will be published in 2012. She is also co-author The Kids’ Book Club Book:(Penguin, 2007) and Table of Contents: (Adams, 2010). She is co-creator of bookclubcookbook.com and kidsbookclubbook.com. She speaks about cooking, food and reading to book and food enthusiasts across the country.

Peter Zheutlin is the author of Around the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry’s Extraordinary Ride (Citadel Press, 2007) and the co-author, with Thomas B. Graboys, M.D., of Life in the Balance: A Physician’s Memoir of Life, Love and Loss with Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia (Union Square Press, 2008). He is also the co-author, with Robert P. Smith, of Riches Among the Ruins: Adventures in the Dark Corners of the Global Economy (Amacom, 2009). Mr. Zheutlin has also written for The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Los Angeles Times, The New England Quarterly and numerous other publications in the U.S. and abroad.