Indulge yourself with Big Joe’s crab cocktail for a summer treat

It’s summer. It’s hot and sticky and you want something to eat but you don’t want a heavy appetizer that will leave you feeling more uncomfortable. I have the perfect summer appetizer.

My crab cocktail recipe will fulfill all your culinary needs this summer. It’s light, chilled, refreshing and has a little bite to it, all backdrops to some succulent crab that enhances your appetizer pleasure.

There are many crab choices that you can pick that will make or even elevate your dish. You can go with canned crab, if you do, get the larger pieces and you’ll find that in the refrigerator section.

Make sure that the crab is from Vietnam, it will say on the can and check to see that it is pasteurized.

Stay away from the canned crab that’s on the warm shelves in the store. The crab on the shelves in the store has barely no flavor and has tendencies to smell and taste fishy. I also enjoy going to my local fish market and buying crab from them. I know they are expensive, but it is worth it.

This is a simple and very tasty appetizer that will pair nicely with a white wine, ice cold beer or other cocktail that is not so powerful that it will take over the taste of your crab appetizer. Enjoy this recipe and have a great summer.

The trick is to make sure that you use a good quality cocktail sauce. I like the extra bite of horseradish. The freshly ground-pepper adds a nice kick, too!

• 1 tub Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 2 jars cocktail sauce (the good stuff and I add more horseradish to make it a little more exciting)
• 1/2 - 3/4-pound crab meat
• 1 box Triscuits (the big ones, of course!)
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

With knife slowly and carefully remove cream cheese from tub (go around the shape of the container with the knife keeping the shape as close to the form of container as possible). Remove cream cheese and place in center of serving plate. In a mixing bowl mix the doctored cocktail sauce with the fresh crab meat, making sure that all the crab pieces are well covered. Pepper to taste.

Slowly spoon most of the mixture on top of the molded cream cheese (covering entire mold). Retain extra cocktail sauce for refreshing the cream cheese mold later. Surround covered mold with Triscuits and enjoy!

I usually serve this using a butter knife to make it easier.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 weekend host Big Joe Henry. Any opinions expressed are Big Joe’s own.

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