Make for now: crab aioli toast + Muhammara dipping sauce

Each, greater than the sum of their parts

Welcome to today’s Stories from Catbird Cottage! I’m fresh-off our most recent dinner here at the cottage, a meal where truly, each course outshone the next. On the menu, one of the appetizers featured this spread, swirled beneath herb-flecked lamb kofkas and finished with wild ephemera…. I incorporated late season friends like lambs quarters, garden spearmint, and nasturtiums that dot my gardens, and everyone agreed it was sensational.

Today’s installment features this recipe and another. One is for free subscribers and a second, for paying subscribers, so everyone gets something delightful to sink your teeth into. Bookmark them for soon, or drop everything and head pronto to the grocery store to make these fantastic bites your next lunch or dinner.

If both of these recipes seize your fancy, I’d be grateful if you’d join and upgrade to paid. As a supporter you’ll receive a bonus newsletter once (and sometimes more!) each month that delves deeper into my process, with additional behind the scenes and more zesty recipes. Your support directly helps me to consistently create meaningful content, and I very much appreciate it. To make the upgrade even more tempting, I’ve created a sunshiny summer special offer of 20% off for everyone who subscribes for a year. Summer’s almost over, so don’t dally! Thank you for being here.

Hello, sublime + simple crab toast. If you are short on time but want to eat something that will put a big smile on your face, this is definitely the answer! The sweet-briny crabmeat and pleasing toast-salad textures will make your day complete.

These toasts feature a lemony aioli and elemental salad that can each be used in lots of ways: the aioli, to anoint eggs, drizzled over sautéed spinach or kale, dolloped onto all sorts of seafood (shrimp, halibut, trout, salmon, etc)… Aioli is one of those sauces that is perfect on pretty much everything. The salad is deceptively simple: the brightness and crunchiness are so good. You can also build it out for a more focal, colorful “official salad” affair, or pair it with tuna salad or other tinned fish.

I have been the lucky recipient of tanner snow crab from Drifters Fish and originally developed this recipe for them. Any snow crab works well, but if you’d like to skip the process of cooking it and plucking the flesh from the shells, opt for a container of lump or jumbo lump knuckle and claw meat, and have at it.

Crab, aioli, toast

aioli
2 eggs
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
3/4 cup sunflower oil
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp fresh lemon juice

assembly
4 oz lump crabmeat
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced on a diagonal
3 chives, thinly snipped
5 sprigs dill, fronds plucked from stems
1 tsp fresh lemon juice 
2 tsp evoo
2 slices sourdough toast
Freshly ground black pepper 
Pinch flaky salt

Make the aioli: combine all aioli ingredients but the sunflower oil in a medium mixing bowl. Use an immersion blender to blend all together, and in a bare drizzle, add the oil while still blending, until all has been incorporated. You may stop at intervals to ensure the mixture is emulsifying, or to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Once emulsified, the aioli will appear thick and somewhat custard-like. Transfer aioli to a jar with a lid and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. This can be done up to a week in advance. 

Combine celery, chives, lemon juice, and olive oil in a small bowl. Season to taste with freshly cracked pepper and flaky salt. 

Slather toasts with aioli, then arrange the celery salad on top. Add the crab meat and dill sprigs, season with flaky salt, and enjoy. Bon appétit!

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As the seasons change, I wanted to ask what you would like to see more of, here?

• Is there an ingredient you’d like to take a deep dive into?

• Is there a cuisine that interests you, but that you’d like more confidence exploring?

• What do you crave as the weather turns colder?

• What tried-and-true favorite would you love to see done “anew”?

It could be anything, really. Through your feedback, I will dream up new ideas and recipes that will be extra relevant to YOU. How cool is that! Drop a note in the comments, email me, send a message. I look forward to incorporating your input.

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I’ve been experimenting with muhammara for some months now, delving into the layers of what makes this dipping sauce just so delightful.