Cucumber Cups Ingredients
1 cucumber (scraped and cut in to 8)
4 ounces fresh cooked crab meat (white meat from claws and legs)
1 ounce Granny Smith apple (grated)
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon lime zest
2 tablespoons crème fraiche
2 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon shallots (finely chopped)
1 tablespoon flat leafed parsley (chopped) plus 8 springs for garnish
Dash of Tabasco sauce
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Garnish Ingredients
8 small red chili (very finely chopped)
Directions
1. To prepare the cucumbers, scrape most of the green skin with a vegetable peeler leaving some for color and texture. Using a sharp knife cut the cucumber in 1-inch length pieces. Use a small melon ball scoop to cut out center of each to create a cup.
2. If using fresh crab meat, pick the crab and remove any shells.
3. Finely dice the shallot and flat leaf parsley.
4. Grate the apple finely and squeeze the lime juice over the top of it.
5. Combine the apple mixture, lime zest, crab meat, shallots, Tabasco sauce and chopped parsley.
6. Finally, add the crème fraiche and mayonnaise and taste to adjust the seasoning with fine sea salt and pepper. Adjust the consistency by adding some more crème fraiche and mayonnaise.
7. To serve, fill each cup with the crab and apple salad. Garnish with a flat parsley leaf and sprinkle a little of the finely diced red chili.
Judith McLoughlin is an Irish chef and owner of a gourmet food business in Georgia called The Shamrock and Peach. Specializing in Irish cuisine, Judith has created her own unique food fusion by blending the techniques of her homeland with the newfound flavors of the South. Growing up in County Armagh in Northern Ireland and setting down roots in the South, over the past decade Judith has become one of the most recognized Irish faces and brands in Atlanta, throughout the American South and abroad. She regularly contributes to food columns in national newspapers and magazines on both sides of the Atlantic and leads numerous discovery tours from the U.S. to Ireland each year. Before A Return to Ireland, she published a cookbook entitled The Shamrock and Peach.
