alaskan crab tacos

27 Comments

crab tacos Follow Me on Pinterest

My sister moved to Alaska last year. If you don’t know where Alaska is, well…it’s far. REALLY far. Unless you live in Canada, which I do not. I live in the US, on the east coast, in Northern Virginia.

Alaska may as well be on the moon.

So when my buddies at Alaska Seafood asked if I’d be willing to jump into their contest, I hesitated for about three seconds. Because the grand prize is a trip. A free trip. To the moon Alaska!

I just told you a mere three days ago that I rarely enter recipe contests. But I know you’ll understand.

It’s for my sister. And for me. And for you. Really!

I’ll post some really great stories and photos and all the Alaskan seafood recipes I can find. Promise.

But first I have to win! I’ll keep you posted ;-)

This taco recipe using fresh crab takes just 15 minutes to make. The key is to use the freshest ingredients possible and nice big lumps of crab. My store was out of all their jumbo lump Alaskan crab so I made do with smaller pieces; it’s much cheaper but worth the extra dollars for the good stuff when you can get it.  For texture, a few fresh jalapeno slices are fabulous if you can handle the spice; if not, add some thinly shredded lettuce or cabbage. I like to add both.

Top it off with an ice cold beer or margarita and you’ll be in crab taco heaven!

alaskan crab tacos Follow Me on Pinterest


Easy Crab Tacos

I highly suggest doubling the salsa; it’s great on its own and you can munch on some salty chips while you’re working. Also, the avocado sauce is so good you’re going to want to lick the spoon!

Salsa

  • 1 garlic clove
  • 4 Roma tomatoes, each cut into six pieces
  • 1/4 large white onion, chopped into eight large pieces
  • 1 med-sized chipotle pepper (from a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce)
  • 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
  • juice of 1/2 lime
  • 1/2 t kosher salt

Avocado Sauce

  • 1 large avocado, skin and pit removed
  • 1/4 cup plain yogurt (or sour cream)
  • 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
  • 1/4 t kosher salt

Crab mixture

  • 8 oz cooked Alaskan Crab
  • 1 T unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 -3 T salsa juice (drained from salsa)
  • juice of 1/4 lime
  • 1/4 t kosher salt

Other

  • corn tortillas
  • thinly sliced jalapeno
  • very thinly sliced lettuce or cabbage
  • lime wedges

Place garlic clove in food processor and run until finely minced (it’s a good idea to do this first with any recipe that uses garlic and a food processor; this way you ensure there are no large garlic pieces). Add the rest of the salsa ingredients; pulse until finely chopped (about 10-15 pulses). Place salsa in serving dish and rinse out food processor.

Place all ingredients for avocado sauce into food processor and run until very smooth. Place in serving dish.

Drain a few tablespoons of juice from salsa and add to saucepan. Add crab, salt and melted butter; mix thoroughly, being careful to keep crab pieces from falling apart. Heat crab mixture over low heat until very warm.

Heat tortillas in a cast iron skillet or griddle, overlapping as necessary but ensuring that at least half of each tortilla is touching pan. Remove when either warmed or leave slightly longer to get a light char.

Place 1 oz of crab on each tortilla, top with salsa, avocado sauce, jalapeno slices and lettuce.

Pop open a cold beer, relax and enjoy!

Note: What do you do with the rest of the can of chipotle peppers? I put mine in a plastic, zipped bag in the fridge (double bag it, it likes to leak). They’ll keep a couple of weeks. Or, since your food processor is already out, puree the entire can, put in ice cube trays and, when frozen, put the cubes into a freezer bag. They’ll keep up to 3 months!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...