Lump Crabmeat Hash with Lemon-Sage Aioli

To download a copy of the recipe for Crabmeat Hash with Lemon-Sage Aioli, click HERE.

Hash, that great comfort food, has been the subject of a previous post here as Turkey Hash Pie. This week we’re taking hash in a completely different, and no less delicious, direction. Imagine lump crab meat and crisp potatoes combined with sautéed vegetables and just a kiss of bacon, topped with a cooked egg (a hash tradition), and dressed with a lemon-sage aioli. It’s easy, full of great taste, and - just as important - allows plenty of room for you to customize the ingredients to your liking!

Some Cook’s Notes before we begin:

• In this recipe, I’ve used a good quality canned lump crab meat. Cooking fresh crab is never wrong, and can even be downright glorious, but it's not practical to do at all times and in every place.

• For the aioli – basically, garlic-infused mayonnaise – you can make your own mayonnaise base if you like, but I went with a prepared jar of low-fat mayonnaise. (After making marshmallow cream from scratch for a cake frosting in last week’s post, I thought we deserved to use something in a jar this week.)

• The traditional egg accompaniment is usually sunny side up or poached, but make whatever kind you like; it’s your hash, after all. (I make mine sunny-side up as in the photo at the top, but make similar portions for my wife and son topped with scrambled eggs.) In cooking, as in all things, an important lesson about doing things “by-the-book” is this: Do you know who wrote “the book?” Nobody.

•  A special thanks to loyal reader (and good friend) Kim, a great cook and life-long New Englander, for helping a north Jersey guy with valuable insights into seasoning crabmeat.

This recipe makes 4 servings.

Let’s start by making the aioli.

Chop two garlic cloves. Use the flat of the knife blade to press them into a paste.

Combine the garlic paste in a bowl with ½ cup low fat mayonnaise; 1 tablespoon dried sage; 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice; and kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste.

Whisk until smooth, then cover and set aside till ready to serve.

To get the potatoes started:

Par-bake 2 pounds of russet potatoes for about 1/3 the amount of time it would take to bake them fully (approximately 4-5 minutes in a microwave, or 15-20 minutes in a 425 degree oven). When the potatoes have cooled enough to handle, peel and cut into 1/2" cubes.

Prepare the vegetables as follows:

Cut ¾ of a green bell pepper into a ½” dice. Cut the remainder into a fine dice and place in a small dish, separate from the larger dice. Do the same for a red bell pepper. Cut ¾ of a large celery rib into 1/8” slices. Cut the remainder into a fine dice and add to the fine-diced peppers.

Cut a medium onion into a ½” dice.

To cook the hash:

Heat 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil in a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the potatoes, season with a little salt, and cook for several minutes until the potatoes are browned and crisp. Set the cooked potatoes aside in a bowl.

Using the same pan over medium-high heat, cook 2 ounces of turkey bacon, chop into pieces, and add to the potatoes.

Adding a little oil to the pan only if necessary, cook 2 cloves of minced garlic till aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add the ½” diced peppers, the 1/8” celery slices, the onion, ¾ cup of corn kernels and 1 bay leaf. Sauté till cooked. Add the potatoes, bacon, crab meat, 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, 1 tsp dried tarragon, and ¾ tsp hot sauce. Cook till heated through, about two minutes. Remove the bay leaf.

Divide the half into four portions and keep them warm (such as in a warm oven) while you prepare the eggs.

Next we’ll cook our eggs. Cook them any way that is desired. Sunny side up, prepared as follows, is frequently used. Cook one egg for each serving.

In a non-stick pan over medium heat, melt just enough butter substitute to coat the pan. The pan should be large enough for the number of eggs being cooked, or work in batches. Break the eggs into the pan, being careful not to break the yolks.

Immediately reduce the heat to low. (If firmer whites are desired, add ½ tsp of water per egg to the pan and cover with a lid or plate. For looser whites, don’t add the water and keep the pan uncovered.) Cook slowly, usually 2 – 3 minutes, until the whites have set and the yolks have started to thicken. (The doneness of the yolks can be checked by gently shaking the pan and seeing how the yolks move.)

Near the end of cooking, baste the eggs with melted butter substitute.

Season with salt and pepper after the eggs have finished cooking.

To serve:

Using a spatula, top each serving of hash with one of the eggs.

Garnish each serving with the fine diced green pepper, red pepper and celery.

Top with lemon aioli for serving.

To download a copy of the recipe for Crabmeat Hash with Lemon-Sage Aioli, click HERE.

Serve as is or with a favorite side dish, and you’re all set for a great meal your family and guests will love!

Visit us again next week for more tasty meal ideas! Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)

  

Turkey Hash Pie

My first exposure to the simple pleasure of a good hash was the corned beef kind I used to get at McSorley's - New York's oldest and most glorious ale house - during my senior year of college. Served hot with pickled red cabbage and some good rye bread, it quickly became my favorite item on the menu. (That I spent so many lunch breaks at McSorley's explains a few things about my senior year, but that's a story for another time and place.)

From that humble first impression, hash took on a new respectability for me years later when I learned chicken hash was served at Truman Capote's famous "Black-and-White Ball" at the Plaza Hotel in 1966. That was it; hash was now the big-time.

This week's recipe uses ground turkey, but using leftover cooked chicken or turkey would save a bit of cooking time and would work nearly as well. The list of ingredients looks long, but that's both the nature of hash and part of its charm.

You'll also need a 9" pie crust. Buy one if you like, but an earlier post on this site gave a recipe for a very good (I think) reduced fat pie crust. You make the call. This recipe makes one 9" pie, about four servings.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. When the oven is ready, blind-bake the pie crust to completion, then set it aside. While the crust is baking, prepare the other ingredients, checking the crust periodically to keep it from burning. 

After the pie crust is finished, increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees. Toss four medium, cubed potatoes and ½ tablespoon of minced garlic with 2 Tbsp of olive oil to coat. Place the mixture on a baking sheet in a single layer, season with salt, and place in the oven for about 30 minutes till browned, turning occasionally for even browning. When the potatoes have finished browning, set them aside and lower the oven temperature to 350.

While the potatoes are baking, mix 1-1/2 pounds of ground turkey and ½ large grated onion, place in a large oiled skillet, add ¼ cup fat-free half-and-half and 1 tablespoon Worcestershire, and cook until the turkey is browned. When the turkey is done, set it aside.

Adding a little more oil to the same skillet, sauté ½ red pepper, chopped; ½ green pepper, chopped; 4 ounces of sliced mushrooms; and ½ cup diced celery. Add ½ cup dried cranberries, a pinch of cayenne, ½ Tbsp salt, ½ Tbsp pepper, ½ tablespoon paprika, ½ teaspoon dried sage, and the cooked turkey and cook until warmed through, about 4 – 5 minutes.

Add ¾ cup low-fat chicken broth and 1 tablespoon of chopped, fresh parsley, and simmer for a few minutes.

Place the turkey mixture into the pie crust and top with the browned potatoes. Cover the edges of the crust with foil and bake at 350 degrees until heated through, about 10 minutes. Serve hot.

As always, for a cookbook-style, notebook-ready copy of this or any other recipe on the site, just drop me a line and I’ll get it right off to you.

See you next week! Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)