Five-Spice Crab Cocktail Recipe

When I decided that the best way to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year would be to publish 14 days of romantic recipes, I reached out to a few chef and cookbook author friends to see if they would like to get in on the fun. Author Jill Silverman Hough sent me a roundup of what she felt were her most “romance-worthy” dishes and I begged her to let us run the Five-Spice Crab Cocktails recipe from her book 100 Perfect Pairings: Small Plates to Serve with Wines You Love.

Related: Easy Oven Roasted Dungeness Crab Recipe

A crab meat cocktail with spice

As you might already know, I’m obsessed with the aphrodisiac qualities of Five-Spice Powder. (After all, it truly is a blend of five historically noted aphrodisiacs. These include cinnamon; star anise; fennel; black pepper and clove.) When used sparingly – and this spice blend is best used sparingly – its beautiful balance of sweetness and spice can transform ordinary ingredients like chicken or quinoa into a complex, taste bud tingling, body warming masterwork of flavor.

Order Five Spice Powder online

A sexy crab appetizer for date night

Here, Jill uses the aphrodisiac spice blend to bring a unique brightness and allure to steamed, lump crabmeat. (Like all crustaceans, crab is considered an aphrodisiac.)

RELATED: What is an aphrodisiac food?

Comments Jill, “If you’re looking for an elegant way to start a meal, look no further. These crab cocktails are super-simple to make. But because the recipe features an indulgent ingredient, crab, it feels sophisticated and special-occasion. Ideally, I recommend using fresh crab from a good fishmonger. But canned crab will work as well if you can’t get great fresh crab.”

Incidentally, this recipe is from the Viognier chapter of 100 Perfect Pairings: Small Plates to Serve with Wines You Love. If you really want to bring the experience of this dish to life, pair it with a beautiful bottle of floral Viognier, like Raft Wines Jonquille.

TO TRY: Check out all of our seafood recipes

Five-Spice Crab Cocktails

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If you’re looking for an elegant way to start a meal, look no further. This cocktail is super-simple to make, but because it features an indulgent ingredient, crab, it feels sophisticated and special-occasion. Ideally, use fresh crab from a good fishmonger, but canned crab will work as well. The dish is great on its own, but with a chilled bottle of Viognier, it’s a knock-out—one of those delicious situations where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Diet and Health healthy-ish

Seasonal New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day

Ingredient lump crab meat

Prep Time 10 mins

Total Time 10 mins

Servings 4

Author Jill Silverman Hough

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tsp fresh lemon juice or more to taste
• 1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder plus more for garnish (see below)
• 12 oz cooked lump crab meat picked over
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley plus leaves for garnish
• 2 tbsp minced shallot

Instructions

• In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, lemon juice, and five-spice powder. Set aside. (You can prepare the mayonnaise mixture up to 3 days in advance, storing it covered in the refrigerator.)
• In a medium bowl, combine the crab, chopped parsley, and shallot. Add about 2 tablespoons of the mayonnaise mixture, gently tossing to combine. Taste, ideally with your wine, and add more lemon juice if you like.
• Spoon the crab mixture into decorative glasses. Top with the remaining mayonnaise mixture, dividing it evenly. Sprinkle with a dash of five-spice powder, garnish with the parsley leaves, and serve.

Notes

NOTE: Chinese five-spice powder is available in either the spice section or the ethnic or Asian section of most major supermarkets. Besides using it in this recipe, you can sprinkle it on roasted meats and vegetables and stir it into rice.

crab photo by Lucy Schaeffer

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