Crab Lettuce Wraps with Spicy Lime Vinaigrette

Following a weekend of holiday feasting, we usually find ourselves craving something light, and refreshing.  After we had stuffed ourselves to capacity,  these Crab Lettuce Wraps with Spicy Lime Vinaigrette were the refreshing light meal to bring us back from a carb induced holiday daze. While crab is a splurge, this dish allows the sweet and delicate flavor of blue crab to shine. It is worth every penny. If you're truly adventurous, you can buy crab fresh, cook it and remove the meat.  We generally buy a high quality canned crab, which is quick, easy and consistently available. To make these crab wraps, Rebecca used avocado, some stunning watermelon radishes, cucumber, and a sweet and spicy lime vinaigrette. She used hydroponic Bibb lettuce fresh from our CSA for the wraps.   We found these cute little lettuce cups were a neat way of holding this light and healthy crab salad together.

Ingredients:

   Vinaigrette:

• 4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ancho chili powder (substitute chilli powder)
• 1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons finely minced cilantro

   Salad:

• 3 tablespoons watermelon radish, finely chopped (can substitute any variety)
• 1 ripe avocado, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup washed and unpeeled cucumber, finely chopped
• 1 pound cooked crab meat (jumbo lump if possible)
• 1 small head bibb lettuce, washed

Steps 

1. Whisk together ingredients in vinaigrette; lime, ancho, salt, honey, olive oil and cilantro.
2. Gently combine salad ingredients; radishes, avocado, cucumber, and crab meat.  Carefully stir together until vinaigrette coats all salad ingredients.
3. Scoop salad into individual bibb lettuce leaves and serve immediately.