My wife and I were recently invited to a really fun surprise birthday party for a friend of ours.  He, and most of his friends, are big foodies and in the past we’ve gotten together to make food, each bringing 2-3 courses for a great big multi-course extravaganza.  This time his wife invited a big group of us, in surprise fashion, with a cooking theme…avocados and pears.  While I like avocados and my wife loves them (being a California girl), the majority of the ways I eat avocados would not be considered fine cuisine.  My idea of a perfect use of avocado involves carne asada and heaping portions of guacamole from what is simply the best roadside taco stand, Vaqueros, in San Diego.

So I started trying to think of a good use of avocados and pears.  For the pears, my wife and I took our favorite dobos torte recipe, and baked sliced pear into the cakes, topped it with a pear mousse, and dipped slightly dried pear slices into caramelized sugar to make decorative garnishes.  (We forgot to take a picture of the final product before we ate it…*smile*). 

For the avocado, I remembered how much I love the pairing of avocado and crab, so off to the market I went to get a live crab!  In the process I decided that the light creaminess of blinis would go great as a substrate to carry the crab and avocado.  In the end, I ended up with this recipe, which turned out pretty tasty if you ask me!  In full disclosure, I borrowed heavily from my new cookbook, The French Laundry Cookbook, which I highly recommend, though I’ve changed recipes somewhat.

Blini with Poached Crab and Avocado Salad

Poach Crab

1/2 cup – coarsely diced carrots

1/2 cup – coarsely diced fennel bulb or celery

1 cup – coarsely diced onions

2 – leeks, coarsely chopped

1/4 tsp – black pepper corns

1 – bay leaf

4 – sprigs of thyme

small handful of parsley (whole)

1 tsp – kosher salt

11 cups – cold water

Add all ingredients above into a large stock pan and bring to a boil then lower to a simmer.

1 cup – white wine

1/2 cup – vinegar

1 lemon (squeeze into broth then place the rinds in as well)

1 – Live Dungeness crab (looks like you can also buy this frozen online)

Add the above ingredients and return to a simmer.  Add live crab and cover with a lid.  Simmer 4 minutes and then turn off the heat and let cool completely on the stove. 

Blini Batter

3 – small potatoes (russets or other drier potatoes…I used Yukon gold)

2 – Tbsp all purpose flour

2 Tbsp – 1/4 cup – Creme Fraiche (you can substitute full fat sour cream or heavy whipping cream)

3 – eggs

kosher, white pepper, cayenne to taste

For the Creme Fraiche, I made my own.  I took about 1 cup of heavy whipping cream (I planned on having extra) and mixed it with a sprinkling of Mesophilic A (MA) cheese culture (I had some on hand).  I then covered it and let it sit in a warm place overnight.  Once it was about the consistency of sour cream I put it in the fridge.

Gently boil the potatoes (whole with skin on) until soft.  While still hot, peel and rice them as fine as possible.  Add the flour, then 2 Tbsp of creme fraiche and whisk thoroughly.  Now add the eggs, one at a time, whisking between each egg.  I discarded the last egg white (using only the yolk) and then added salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste.  From there I added more creme fraiche, a little at a time, until the batter had the consistency of pancake batter.

Avocado Puree

1/2 – ripe avocado

2 Tbsp – red onion

1 clove – garlic

1 Tbsp – olive oil

2 Tbsp – fresh lemon juice

kosher salt and cayenne pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend smooth

Poached Crab Salad

1 cup – poached crab meat (canned crab meat could be substituted)

1 Tbsp – Dijon Mustard

1/2 Tbsp – Lemon juice

cayenne pepper – to taste

kosher salt – to taste

Mix all ingredients to taste.

Avocado Salad

1 – ripe avocado

1/2 cup – red onion, finely diced

1/2 cup – cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely diced

1 Tbsp – olive oil

1/2 Tbsp – Lemon juice

kosher salt and white pepper to taste

Mix red onion, cucumber, olive oil, and lemon juice with some kosher salt (start with a pinch or two).  Try to dice the avocado as finely as possible without mashing (my photo is actually the end of the batch so it’s a little mashed up, the stuff we served was much cleaner looking).  Gently fold the avocado into the rest of the mixture, trying not to mash anything.

Plating

Fresh Chives

Kosher Salt or Sea Salt in large granules

Heat a griddle up as you would for pancakes, once the griddle is preheated, butter generously.  Place one Tbsp of batter per blini, and, using the bottom of the spoon, spread the batter out until it is of a uniform height and round in shape.  Griddle and flip like a pancake. 

Place a teaspoon of avocado puree on the center of each plate.  Place two overlapping blini on top of the puree.  Place a quinelle of avocado salad on top of the blini and a teaspoon of crab salad on top of that.  Garnish with a piece of chive and a sprinkling of sea salt.