french fridays with dorie: crab and grapefruit salad
I’m a Maryland girl. Though I don’t live there anymore, I grew up in Rockville, a D.C. suburb. Maryland is synonymous with crab, or at least it used to be, so I was happy to see this week’s choice for French Fridays with Dorie was a crab and grapefruit salad.
For this salad, lump crabmeat is gently tossed with a confetti of tiny chopped vegetables. I loved the colorful array of red pepper, cucumber, scallions, and jalapeño pepper. I went with the bonne idée and added some diced avocado too. And, of course, there was grapefruit, both segments of the fruit and grapefruit juice for the acid.
A handy-dandy grapefruit spoon, with its serrated edge, made quick work of cutting the grapefruit into segments. I’ll have to remember this inspired trick when I make winter fruit salad.
The avocado made me think of Mexican, so I added some chopped cilantro and garnished the salad with cilantro leaves instead of the suggested mint.
As I’ve mentioned before, my husband doesn’t like fruit mixed with a savory course, but he made a rare exception and agreed to try out the salad (he really likes crab). He thought it wasn’t bad, even if fruit was one of the ingredients.
Overall, I’d call this recipe a success, though I’m not really sure where it fits in the calendar for seasonal eating. With the crab, it’s more of a meal salad, but, in winter, when grapefruits are plentiful, a cold meal is not as enticing as in summer when citrus feels out of place.
In any case, the salad was a lovely light supper. I served it with a delicious new kind of lavash chips I found at Costco. It would make an even lovelier elegant lunch. The leftovers weren’t bad for a brown bag lunch at work either.
You can read about the other bloggers refreshing salads here. We don’t post the recipes, but I found it here (look at recipe 11 of 21). Or, you can always find it in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table.
By the way, I ordered a used copy of Baking with Julia. It’s on its way, so I’m hoping to join up with Tuesdays with Dorie, another social cooking adventure, starting in April, depending on when the book arrives.
Posted on 30 March 2012, in French Fridays with Dorie and tagged crab, French Fridays with Dorie, grapefruit, salad. Bookmark the permalink. 25 Comments.
A Plateful of Happiness 
Yes – this did seem a little off kilter – although I made mine during the “week of warmth”, so it was kind of refreshing (and went well with the bizarre almost summer like weather).
It looks so pretty :-)
Looks great, and I bet it was tasty with the lavash chips!
Lovely presentation, your glasses really showed this salad off. And pretty impressive that your husband tried it. I can’t tell you how many times my husband has proclaimed that a Dorie recipe ”sounds interesting” (which is his polite way of saying that it sounds weird) and then loved it in the end.
Yay, Betsy! I am so happy you will be joining us! :) Your salad looks lovely. I also thought this would be wonderful for summer because it was so refreshing. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this. We also had it as a light supper. I didn’t have avocado, but I bet it was delicious.
What a great idea to use your grapefruit spoon to cut out the segments! It took me a while with my knife. Glad you and your husband enjoyed the salad….I agree, in the winter I tend to want something warmer for dinner.
I need to look up for those lavash chips… I’m such a Costco groupie.
Your salad looks really pretty – you must have been spoiled growing up with such great seafood readily available. It is very ironic (and shameful) that where I live local seafood is not marketed as aggressively as the imported stuff.
I love your post! My husband is from Maryland, but we live in Washington State now. Dungeness vs. Maryland Blue Crabs!!!
You must miss the crab from MD! I still dream about those delicious crabcake packed with lump crabmeat. Thanks for the tip on using grapefruit fork to extract segments. I’ll remember that next time instead of supreming the segments!
Oh, I covet your grapefruit spoon! The timing of this dish in Oz is fine – autumn has cool nights and warm days, so the mix of ingredients was perfect.
Betsy, So glad you will be baking along with Baking with Julia! Your salad looks so pretty! So nice that your husband gave it a try…Whats a little grapefruit if you get to mix it with crab meat!! Have a great weekend!
I went with the avocado as well – it was delicious! Glad you’ll be joining Baking with Julia:)
I dont know that I would have made a “meal” out of this one, but I’m sure glad to have this one in my repitoire for future dinner parties :)
Oh, I’m so glad you’ll be joining Baking with Julia!!! Hooray! And glad you enjoyed this salad :)
Love the picture of the grapefruit and grapefruit spoon. When I was a kid, my mom bought some grapefruit spoons, and her kids all accused her of trying to kill them with the serrated edges. She gave up on us.
Yay! I’m glad you’re joining TWD, too. I’ll be making the Pizza Rustica tomorrow. I forgot to mention that I used a grapefruit spoon – great minds!
I’ve wanted to come to Boston since I studied its architecture in Art History class in college. I will definitely let you know if I head out that way. Let me know if you come to LA, too! xoxo
Hubby also grew up in that area and misses the great seafood, especially crab. Maryland style crabcakes are a regular at our house. Your salad looks wonderful. I’m also doing the Pizza Rustica for this week…all part of the fun. “See” you soon.
Love the picture of your Crab and Grapefruit Salad and, of course, of your bookshelf filled with all those wonderful cookbooks. Compared to you, my collection looks rather unimpressive….Wanted to thank you also for the nice warm welcome to the FFwD group.
Glad you enjoyed it! We really liked it also, I was thinking maybe in summer to switch fruits or just go with some lemon or lime juice. I had no idea there was a grapefruit spoon, how cool!
Great minds think a like – the avocado made it for me as well.
Betsy, I think of this salad as more a luncheon/lunch plate. Today (Sunday) I am going to finish up the mixture with a Crab Melt. Now, I don’t know how the grapefruit is going to work with that but it wasn’t a major part of my salad and I already took the biggest chunks out. Good luck with your beehive. Goodness knows we need people to love and take care of these important creatures. Have you seen the documentary “Queen of the Sun” about our vanishing bee population? And, you’ll love TWDBWJ. It has an entirely different feel from the Friday group, I think. Mary
Yes, when you eat grapefruit with any regularity; it is so helpful to have the spoons & the little curved serrated knife. The Rio Star pink grapefruit is really delicious- I do sprinkle the slightest bit of sugar on top for enjoyment.
Your salad looks fabulous- bravo!
I thought, as I was eating this salad, that it could have used crackers or bread. Way to anticipate! How did you like the avocado?
Love the avocado in this! It’s definitely worth a try.
I agree, better as a summer salad. Maybe with raspberries?
Good observation – grapefruit is a winter item and crab seems more spring/summer. Maybe it is a sprinter season item. Can’t wait to catch up and try this one!