Honor the Mom in your life with one of these 6 over-the-top dishes, featuring flaked Alaskan king crab:
California Roll Rice Bowl with King Crab
This California roll bowl recipe from Harvesting Alaska has all of the goodies you’d find in a California roll, without the hassle of building your own maki rolls at home. And forget any doubts you have about making this for Mother’s Day: When made with real, fresh Alaskan king crab meat — not imitation crab sticks! — this California roll-inspired dish is glam enough to serve to the finest member of your family. You can either use cold or warmed crab meat to flake on top of this rice bowl, depending on your preference.
Jalapeno-Lime Crab Salad
If you’re lucky enough to find good tomatoes early in the season, put them to good use with this recipe from Sue Zemanick for a crab salad. A zesty jalapeno-lime dressing brings a bit of heat to flaked crab meat, nicely complementing the sweetness of king crab and a thick slice of a juicy tomato. King crab’s naturally buttery flavor is enhanced by the richness of a ripe avocado, ensuring that all the best qualities of this crustacean are highlighted in the dish. It’s a relatively modest dish, but when made with the finest ingredients it works well as an epic first course or regal snack on Mother’s Day.
Spicy King Crab Mazeman
Perfect for an easy Mother’s Day lunch in the park, Rachael Ray’s recipe for a spicy crab mazeman — a chilled, brothless type ramen — can be made with king crab when you want to transform this casual meal into an exquisite bowl of seafood and noodles. Make sure you buy high-quality ramen noodles in order to pull this dish off; instant ramen noodles are simply not worthy of being crowned with king crab. Pro tip: Try pairing up this dish with Japanese-style onigiri, to turn your lunch into a multi-course picnic.
Gnocchi with Spiced Prawn Sauce and King Crab
Put your spot prawn stock to decadent use with this recipe for gnocchi with crab from Rick Stein. The prawn stock becomes the base of a rich, Venetian spiced sauce in which you’ll toss gnocchi and morsels of king crab. By the way, the extra effort it takes to make gnocchi from scratch is well worth the time and labor, especially as you’re serving it with such lovely king crab — but if you’ve never made gnocchi before or feel it is above your skill level (it’s actually not that hard!), a good-quality package of gnocchi from the freezer aisle will work just fine.
King Crab Scampi
Another pasta recipe that features crab, this king crab scampi from Nick Rabar has a lighter aromatic profile of fennel, garlic, and dill. But with the addition of half a stick of butter, it’s unapologetically for a special occasion like Mother’s Day. Mind that the recipe has a few typos as it’s written, so refer to our notes here: Use a package of king crab legs, a 16-ounce package of pasta (or better yet, 16 ounces of any shaped fresh pasta if you can find it!), and one pound of “partially dried” cherry tomatoes in order to make four servings of this dish. P.S., to make the partially dried cherry tomatoes, refer to this easy recipe from Food52.
Risotto with King Crab
Flake up a package of king crab to stir into a dreamy risotto — and while you’re at it, why not throw the shells into the pot of stock that you’re using to infuse the dish with another layer of rich, crab flavor? Every bit of effort you use to execute this otherwise simple dish makes a big difference in the end; in that sense, a great risotto is truly made with TLC. If you’ve never made it before, we’ve got you covered with our very own risotto how-to guide that walks you through every step of the way.
