Southern Party recipes: Crab Dip

In the south we have a lot of hot dip recipes. Many of them not surprisingly are based on mayonnaise. This one is no exception.

I remember going to many a open house around Christmas time or New Years and enjoying this kind of dip. In Charleston there is an old famous recipe for what is called "Meeting Street Crab Dip" and it's very rich and delicious.

This recipe is is a little bit easier and less involved but definitely yummy and keep people coming back. If you are having a get together make this and a bottle of wine and you are set. It's all you'll want to put out or you will spoil people's appetite for dinner. Or make it as part of your game day graze. Either way your guests will love it.

Crab Dip

Makes: 10-12 servings

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds cream cheese

1 1/2 cups mayonnaise

2 tablespoons Old Bay

1 cup Sherry wine

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup fresh jumbo lump crabmeat
paprika

1 loaf baguette

Method:

Preheat oven to 350. Blend cream cheese in a food processor with all ingredients except the cheese, crabmeat and bread.  Fold in crabmeat by hand in a bowl. Pour into 6x10 aluminum pan and top with cheese and sprinkle with a little paprika. Bake for 20 minutes until it's golden brown and bubbling and then serve hot with sliced baguette. 

Low Country Shrimp Rolls

The lobster roll gets a lot of attention when it comes to seafood sandwiches. I mean who doesn't love a lobster roll. But to be honest lobster meat isn't cheap. And I feel sometimes like I am just not willing to splurge on lobster. So I think shrimp makes an awesome substitute and are really tasty as well.

Any good roll sandwich lobster or otherwise is really only as good as the bun. To take that bun to another level butter is really the key.

So get some soft buns New England style rolls with open sides and melt some butter, chop some shrimp and have some deliciousness.   

Low Country Shrimp Rolls

Ingredients:

1 pound cooked cocktail shrimp

1/4 cup and an extra Tablespoon of Mayonnaise

2 Tablespoons of lemon juice

3 tablespoons chopped chives (2 held in reserve for garnish) 

1/4 cup very finely chopped red onion

1/4 cup very finely chopped celery

2 teaspoons jarred horseradish

2 teaspoons dried tarragon

1 Tablespoon Safflower oil

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

salt to taste

1/2 stick melted butter

12 new england style hot dog buns

Method:

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce together

Chop shrimp into small pieces

Mix with the sauce

Let sit in the fridge for at least and hour

Place some butter in a hot pan or grill top and toast each side of the buns nice and buttery

To assemble fill the rolls with the chilled shrimp salad mixture. Garnish with the remaining chives 

Hungarian Goulash

So as Fall approaches I am starting to put together recipes which are going to be good for this season as well as all the way through the coming Winter which according to the news should be another brutal one.

I have a soft spot in my heart for this recipe as it reminds me of my dear friend Attila, who remains my favorite Hungarian! He was always telling me stories about the food of his homeland. He also had the funniest sense of humor. One of my favorite things he does is to inform you of the fact that in any given situation the Hungarians have a old saying for almost all situations.

For example when he undertook a job change that did not exactly go his way.  I asked why he decided to follow that particular path. He said well you know we Hungarians have a saying... "If I knew I was going to fall down... I would have sat down". Such is the wisdom of the Hungarians.

This recipe is delicious and easy and not traditional at all. But it's what I grew up thinking was Goulash. So enjoy.

Hungarian Goulash


2 to 3 pounds stew meat cubed
2 large onions chopped
1 clove garlic minced
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 heaping tablespoon flour
1 heaping tablespoon Hungarian Sweet paprika
1 large can chopped tomatoes
pinch of salt and pepper
Sour cream

Preheat oil in a large casserole
Brown beef on all sides
Don't over crowd the pan or the beef will steam and not brown
Transfer meat to a plate and set aside
Add the onion and garlic and cook till soft
Return beef to pan and stir in the flour and paprika
Add tomatoes and salt and pepper and bring to a steady simmer
Place in preheated oven and cook for about two hours at 375 degrees
Remove from oven a just before serving sitr in the sour cream
Serve with mashed potatoes or short butttered and parsley eggs noodles