Courtesy of Wendy Hamilton
Philly Courtesy of Patti LaBelle
From her book, LaBelle Cuisine: Recipes to Sing About
Classic Crabmeat Salad in Tomato Cups “Go to a good fish store to buy fresh, not canned or pasteurized, crabmeat. It usually comes in one-pound containers. This just isn’t worth making with so-so crab.” – Patti LaBelle
Ingredients ➜ 1 pound fresh crabmeat, ➜ ➜ ➜ ➜
preferably backfin, picked over to remove cartilage 2 /3 cup mayonnaise 1 /3 cup finely chopped onion 1 /3 cup finely chopped celery 1 hard-cooked egg, finely chopped
➜S alt and freshly ground ➜ ➜ ➜ ➜
black pepper 2 large ripe tomatoes 1 small head of green leaf lettuce, separated into leaves, rinsed well and drained P aprika L emon wedges
Directions In a medium bowl, mix the crabmeat, mayonnaise, onion, celery and hardcooked egg. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, about 2 hours. Cut each tomato in half horizontally. Using a dessert spoon, scoop
out and discard the inside of each tomato half to leave a shell. Season the inside of each tomato with salt and pepper. Fill each shell with the chilled crabmeat salad and place on a lettuce leaf. Sprinkle with paprika and serve with lemon wedges.
PRH Suggested Wine Pairing Zaca Mesa Viognier $17
Cream Puffs
{Profiteroles}
This was my mom’s recipe. She often made the puffs to stuff with chicken salad as a main course when she was hosting a small group. I like to make them (the dessert version) for birthdays and other special occasions! The recipe can be doubled. Also, instead of drizzling all of them with the chocolate glaze, dust them with some powdered sugar.
Ingredients for Puffs ➜ 1 cup water ➜ 1/2 cup butter ➜ 1 cup flour
➜ 1/2 tsp salt ➜ 4 eggs unbeaten Directions
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Bring 1 cup of water to boil in a medium pot. Add the butter to the boiling water. Heat until melted. Add the flour and salt all at once, stirring with a wooden spoon until it leaves the sides of the pan. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes in the pot. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat
with wooden spoon until smooth. Drop by small or large spoons onto baking sheet at least an inch apart. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes, then lower heat to 400 degrees for another 25 minutes. Move to a wire rack and immediately cut off tops of puffs and remove the soft dough inside. Keep the tops.
Ingredients for Filling or Half & Half
➜ 3.5 oz instant Jello French Vanilla Pudding mix ➜ 1 3/4 cups heavy cream
➜ 1 cup whole milk (or 2%)
Mix in a blender. Chill.
Ingredients for Chocolate Glaze ½➜ 1/2 cup chocolate bits ➜ 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
➜ 1 1/2 tablespoons milk
Directions Mix in top of double boiler, stirring occasionally until smooth. If you don’t have a double boiler, use a Pyrex bowl and set over a pot of boiling water but don’t let the bottom of bowl touch the water. Let it cool
slightly before drizzling. Spoon the filling into a plastic storage bag. Cut off a corner of the bag and pipe the filling into the empty puffs. Top with a cap. Then drizzle puffs with the chocolate glaze.
Serves 12.
PRH Suggested Wine Pairing Varichon & Clerc Blanc de Blanc $13.99 rowhome magazine
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