Imitation crab meal idea

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debbie24

Senior Cook
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Aug 7, 2006
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Florida
i have some imitation crab that i would like to use up. hubby is not a salad person so thats kind of out. i was thinking pasta. any suggestions? i'm new to cooking so any help will be appreciated. i saw a few recipes for alfredo but i dont have any cream cheese in the house right now or parmesan cheese. so sorry if this is a tough one. thanks
 
You can make a cream sauce that isn't alfredo. All you need is some cream and some hard cheese.

Saute some garlic in butter, add heavy cream and reduce to thicken. Turn off the heat and stir in the cheese. Add in the surimi (fake crab) and toss with pasta.
 
Add in some peas, chopped onions, chopped bell pepper to Andy's directions and you can make it go farther.
 
toss it in some cream of celery soup (if condensed mix with milk or cream instead of water) and add some salt/pepper and old bay...instant cream of crab soup!!
 
If you don't have any cream on hand, you can make a white sauce that will taste just as rich and good. In a large skillet, sweat your garlic in two tbls of butter, stir in 2 tbls flour, then whisk in 2 cups of milk and cook on medium heating, stirring, until sauce is thickened. You can add cheese to the sauce or not. Season the sauce to taste...I like to use a little Old Bay Seasoning, but you could stick with the classic grating of nutmeg if you like. Stir in your crab, and maybe some pimentoes and a few frozen peas. Then add your cooked noodles. Turn into pasta bowl and sprinkle with cheese of your choice.
I do it this way all the time, and we actually prefer it, because it's not so heavy as a real Alfredo.
 
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I use it in pasta all the time - in fact, it's one of my husband's favorite pasta dishes.

Just cook whatever type of pasta you want - short or long types - drain, & toss the imitation crab (aka surimi) pieces in with the hot pasta. I sometimes saute it a little first in some extra-virgin olive oil, & usually add a green vegetable as well - most frequently broccoli or broccolini.

Imitation crab also makes a lovely addition to Asian stirfries - especially when combined with broccoli, bok choy, & snow peas, tossed with some soy, dry sherry, crushed red pepper flakes, & oyster sauce, & served over rice.
 
If you have clam juice in the house, use it along with the milk from Constance's recipe to add a wonderfully complimentary flavor to the fake crab.

In fact, that basic sauce recipe is called a Bechemel and is one of the mother sauces (also called a grand sauce). This is used to make a host of small or derivitive sauces.

The basic recipe is equal amounts of fat and flour, and either milk or cream to thin, with a bit of salt to flavor. Just melt butter or heat oil in a pot. Note how much you use. add the same amount of measured flour, plus a bit of salt and stir into a thick paste. This is called a roux.

Let cook while stirring for about a minute over medium heat. Do'nt brown it. That's the basis for a different kind of sauce and will taste substantialy different. Add milk slowly while stirring until the roux thins into a rich sauce. From this point you can add parmesan cheese to make an Alfredo, or Add whipped egg-whites and spinace to make bake into a spinach soufle, or add some gruyere cheese and egg yolks to make a Hollaindaise, or add...

You get the idea.

If you thin the roux with animal broth, such as beef, veal, pork, chicken, or seafood, it is another of the mother suaces called a veloute. This is used for making various gravies, which is what you would want for your fake crab. You can then use it as is for a gravy or sauce to spoon over pasta or rice, or you can transform it into various soups and chowders, a bisque, or stew.

I know, I'm giving you a lot to swallow without much in the way of recipes. But that simple roux of flour and fat can be used to amke so much, even to thicken legume soups such as bean or split pea. Just thin the roux with liquid from the soup until a thick sauce is formed, and then stir into the soup to suspend the solid particles and keep them from settling. This is called binding the soup.

I use roux for so many things. It's even part of the ingredient list for cream puffs, i.e. butter, flour, heated to make the roux, then milk to begin the dough, followed by eggs, stirred into the paste. Then you have choux paste for making puffs, eclairs, protiferoles, etc.

Flour and fat, a wonderful thing:chef:

Seeeeya; Goodweed of the North
 
It makes a good pasta salad using shells and a light mayo dressing. Veggies, of course.
 
I know you said no salad, but this is really not a salad even though I call it that, it’s a whole meal if you ask me.

Salad:

1 potato
2 carrots
2 hard boiled eggs
½ cup canned sweet pees
1 cup imitation crab.
1-2 table spoon mayo
Salt to taste.
1 small to medium Granny Smith apple or
1 cucumber or
1 pickle.

( Last 3 items I do not use, but my mom interchangeably uses them, depending on her mood )

Boil potato in skin, carrots (I peel them before), eggs. Let it cool down so you can work with them. Peel potato and eggs. I like to dice all the items very small. Mix together; add salt and mayo mix it. Yum.
 
thank you all so much, so many choices. i cant decide now. LOL.

charlieD am i going to be imitation crab? :)

Bangbang what is salad oil and can serve this mixed with speaghetti? i'm thinking that would be good.

baby screaming, be back soon
 
debbie24 said:
thank you all so much, so many choices. i cant decide now. LOL.

charlieD am i going to be imitation crab? :)

Bangbang what is salad oil and can serve this mixed with speaghetti? i'm thinking that would be good.

baby screaming, be back soon

I use Olive oil ..........and yes you can mix this with pasta.
 
Goodweed of the North said:
If you have clam juice in the house, use it along with the milk from Constance's recipe to add a wonderfully complimentary flavor to the fake crab.

In fact, that basic sauce recipe is called a Bechemel and is one of the mother sauces (also called a grand sauce). This is used to make a host of small or derivitive sauces.

The basic recipe is equal amounts of fat and flour, and either milk or cream to thin, with a bit of salt to flavor. Just melt butter or heat oil in a pot. Note how much you use. add the same amount of measured flour, plus a bit of salt and stir into a thick paste. This is called a roux.

Let cook while stirring for about a minute over medium heat. Do'nt brown it. That's the basis for a different kind of sauce and will taste substantialy different. Add milk slowly while stirring until the roux thins into a rich sauce. From this point you can add parmesan cheese to make an Alfredo, or Add whipped egg-whites and spinace to make bake into a spinach soufle, or add some gruyere cheese and egg yolks to make a Hollaindaise, or add...

You get the idea.

If you thin the roux with animal broth, such as beef, veal, pork, chicken, or seafood, it is another of the mother suaces called a veloute. This is used for making various gravies, which is what you would want for your fake crab. You can then use it as is for a gravy or sauce to spoon over pasta or rice, or you can transform it into various soups and chowders, a bisque, or stew.

I know, I'm giving you a lot to swallow without much in the way of recipes. But that simple roux of flour and fat can be used to amke so much, even to thicken legume soups such as bean or split pea. Just thin the roux with liquid from the soup until a thick sauce is formed, and then stir into the soup to suspend the solid particles and keep them from settling. This is called binding the soup.

I use roux for so many things. It's even part of the ingredient list for cream puffs, i.e. butter, flour, heated to make the roux, then milk to begin the dough, followed by eggs, stirred into the paste. Then you have choux paste for making puffs, eclairs, protiferoles, etc.

Flour and fat, a wonderful thing:chef:

Seeeeya; Goodweed of the North


You explained that beautifully, Weed.
It was years before I knew the proper name was Bechemel Sauce, and by then I'd called it White Sauce too long to change.
My Grandma Snarr taught me how to make it, and said once I'd learned that method, I could use it to cook all kinds of things. She was so right.
 
You can make a yummy omelette with shredded imitation crab and finely sliced scallions. (You can also add onions, cilantro, etc).
 
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