It’s hard to complain about anything in life when you sit down for a meal involving the word, Crab and the word, Dungeness. As much as those last-meal-before-you-die-type games wreck my fickle brain, I’d probably be able to live with myself if I answered with Dungeness Crab. I don’t know what it is, but something about the trifecta of eating with your hands, ice-cold beer and a pint-sized mallet makes me so irrationally giddy, that I start to hum my favorite tune. For the entire meal.
No, the entire month. In our humble abode, we’re dare devils – no bibs required.
Through the frantic phone calls from family and friends out East, I’m acutely aware that winter is still rearing its cold, ugly head in parts. But in our neck of the woods, spring has arrived early. The once lanky cherry blossom trees in our front garden, purchased for $12 each and haphazardly plopped into the ground, are now thriving, strong and have nearly tripled in size. The buds are gearing up to bloom, well ahead of schedule. It’s a flurry of activity, with the azaleas, magnolias, hyacinth, tulips, and rhodies not far behind. They’re all growing up so fast, which makes me one proud mama. With spring in the air and skipping through my head, it’s no wonder I came home from the market with a big bouquet of daffodils, and an even bigger bouquet of asparagus.
Forget the Wheaties. This is the Dinner of Champions.
Dungeness Crab and Grilled Asparagus with Lemon-Caper Vinaigrette, serves 4
Music Pairing: Queen, We Are The Champions
Ingredients
- 1 lb fresh asparagus, trimmed
- 1 tbsp drained capers
- 3 tbsp minced flat-leaf parsley
- 2 tbsp finely chopped shallots
- 3 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- toasted pinenuts
- grated Parmesan cheese
Method
Prepare vinaigrette. Mix shallots, lemon zest, lemon juice, capers and parsley in a small bowl. Whisk in the olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Brush gill pan with 1 tsp of olive oil on medium-high heat. Grill asparagus, turning often, until just tender. Do not overcook.
Transfer grilled asparagus to warm plate and drizzle with prepared vinaigrette. Sprinkle with toasted pine nuts and top with grated Parmesan.
It makes me happy that Spring is around the corner, too! I’m excited to get the garden flourishing with new crop! And yes, you can’t go wrong with Dungeness Crab!
such amazing photos!!! that asparagus looks so amazing!
Those are some gorgeous pics! Serious food porn you have on her =). What a fantastic dinner recipe.
Looks and sounds delish. I love your pictures by the way. :-)
Totally beautiful. As you embrace spring, we are welcome autumn.
Ok a few things:
1) This sounds amazing
2) Your photos continue to amaze me
3) I made your goat cheese last week and cannot stop talking about it.
4) Along with the goat cheese we made the potato leek soup, and that too was to die for.
5) This offically makes me your new biggest fan!
-Blair
Wow – your pictures are just beautiful, really fantastic. I’m waiting on the delivery of a new camera, so hoping that can help me turn a corner, and once we get some brighter days too. Love your blog thanks for sharing – Lu
these photos literally woke me up. so bright and beautiful. glad to hear SOMEONE is enjoying spring! hoping dc will catch up soon. this sounds absolutely wonderful.
Awwh, thanks so much, Blair! I’m so happy you enjoyed the goat cheese and the soup! You’ve made my day with your kind words. :)
Lu, congrats on the new camera. You must be so excited!
Sarah, I love DC and the cherry blossoms in your lovely town would put mine to shame!
Oh good gracious. Perfection. And the prospect of a little mallet puts it over the top.
Life is good when you can eat fresh asparagus and crab. Yum! -Tien
Champions indeed! Lovely photos. I would happily eat that as my last meal too.
The thought of your cherry tree gearing up to bloom made me smile. It’s so, so gray and gloomy on Cape Cod right now. But at least we’re not buried in snow. Just a bit of slush this week.
awesome and crisp photos!
I wish I could be more articulate, but… Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Just to let you know how much I admire your photos and the recipes too. Your blog is both entertaining and educational and very inspiring too. I am glad I landed here on my wanderings through the web. Thanks for sharing your creativeness. Hello from the center of Germany
Christa
LOVE the photos! I can taste the tart lemon, grassy spring asparagus and sweet crab
Um, yes please! Now I know what I’m serving with the next batch of crab Mike brings home from his fishing trips.
Last summer we covered our outdoor table with newspaper, pulled out the shell crackers, stocked up on cold beer and had a serious feast of dungenous crab. It was amazing. Our arms were messy up to our elbows, crab juice all over our faces and grins from ear to ear. I highly recommend this method to the madness.
xo
Fabulous meal and photos.
Mimi
I love these pictures so very much. :-) I feel all summery and peaceful. :-)
That seriously is the meal of champions! I’m spending the weekend in sonoma with friends and this would be the perfect dinner for us. Wow. Incredible.
The meal looks fabulous! I’ve always loved the combination of lemon with asparagus – the vinaigrette sounds perfect.
what beautiful photos! the cherry blossoms trees on our street are in full bloom and such a lovely welcome when i step outside, Im happy to hear your trees are doing so well!
your photos are screaming spring….I love it!
Welcome, Christa! And thank you! Good to have you all the way from Germany.
Mon Ami, now you’re talkin’! That’s my idea of a feast.
Allison, this would suit a wine country weekend very nicely indeed. I’ll have to meet you there!
Dungeness Crab makes me crazy in the best of ways too! And with this gorgeous asparagus and that perfect vinaigrette? To die for. The photos are exquisite!
This was a feast for my eyes, truly.
Capers are one of my favorite ingredients. And crab, gosh I love this creature so much!!!!
I love all your images always… everything you prepare looks so yummy!
At the risk or repeating all the previous comments before me. Blew me away and I have a serious crab craving now that MUST be satisfied. Last October had a wonderful East Coast crab fest in Baltimore – need to do something to replicate it in SF.
Spring is here in SF too – trees full of cherry blossoms, daffodils, pansies – life is good if it wasn’t for all the darn rain that keeps me from really appreciating it – but I cannot complain
Oh goodness, is it that time of the year again?! (Tropical country boy here!) How could I deny it, after seeing all those lovely colorful piccies? I’m not sure I’ve had dungeness crab specifically but the crab here in the Philippines is uniformly great I think :)
This looks so springy and wonderful! It’s cold, cold, cold here and I can’t wait for warm weather and asperagus. Your vinagrette sounds lovely.
Such a lovely write-up and even lovelier photos. Yes, spring is here too, in British Columbia. All is well.
I LOVE that there are so many crab aficionados out there! Someday, we’ll all meet up for a big, messy feast.
Thank you everyone for the sweet comments!
I adore dungeness crabs too. This looks like a wonderful dish to complement the crab.
Trying this out tonight!! The Lemon-Caper Viniagrette looks fantastic :) Beautiful shots as always!
I love that shot of the crab! The recipe sounds scrumptious!
Great photos and lovely fresh food!
mmmm….I wish I could make crab. It scares me. I’m all over the asparagus though!
I made your heavenly hummus yesterday…and it WAS heavenly!
OK, now I’m starving and craving crab. And capers. As far as I’m concerned, spring starts March 1. Of course, I live in Los Angeles.
Those photos are absolutely stunning!
I’m in on the crab fest – nothing better than slowly, slowly eating through sweet, juicy crab with all ten fingers and both palms. Hey, why don’t we do a virtual crab fest?!?!?!
Oh my gosh, what a wonderful combination. This dish is just calling me. This is pure heaven on earth.
Very interesting post; I don’t think I have ever tried making a crab dish at home, ever. Time to start!
I like the music pairing, Queen is still one of the best
omg this is impressive. I wish I was brave enough to try to make crab. One day ill muster up the courage and make this dish. looks wonderful :)
I always wait in with baited breath for asparagus season to start….enjoy, it look divine!
I am LOVING this post! Your photos are mouth-wateringly perfect! I adore asparagus, eat it three or four times a week. Have roasted it in the oven a couple times, but thought to do it on a grill pan and with your delicious vinaigrette! Can’t wait to try it.
Oh, Dungeness, how I miss thee, let me count the ways….
I’m only glad it’s gone to such an obviously deserving home! Eat an extra crab or twelve for me, please? Lovely, stunning, smashing and then some.
Your creations and photos are absolutely STUNNING! I am vegan and you have made my
mouth water.
Lovely lovely lovely
Oh my, this looks like one amazing meal. I do love crab. Funny, as the temperature starts to cool here in Australia, I’m counting down the days until the sticky, humid heat of summer here in Brisbane disappears. And here you are, cheering spring in! Funny.
Love it……love it….love it. Beautiful photos too!
So gorgeous! Crab… mmm, why have I only had this once this year?! So happy we’re getting spring on the west coast. (Then again, it’s like, eternally spring, here!)
hey! again photos are incredible! =) and i love the “music pairing”
i miss cheap meaty dungeness crabs…it’s like $24 for a flown-in dungeness here ><
also, just bought myself a Nikon D90 and 2 lenses…gonna have some fun w/it
i looooooooooove crab. forget the cold beer, just give me the crab and mallet (i might need a bib though !), and i’ll have a massive grin on my face ! that is one thing i never get here in zürich, and now i’ll be craving it even more than ever.
your photos above are superb as usual, and i especially love those vertical shots next to each other. really fantastic ! so artistic. this post is a work of art – just look at all those shapes and colors and all, bravo ! :)
Oh my—your photos are absolutely stunning. You must have wonderful light in your neck of the woods (as I stare out my window at foggy San Francisco). I was a vegetarian for years and started eating meat and fish again about a year ago. But I just recently tried crab for maybe the first time ever. Hello?! Not sure how I’ve gone so long…will definitely give this a whirl. Thanks so much for the inspiration!
oh yum! The dish looks and sounds delicious. The photographs are beautiful, I am never disappointed when I visit your site!
I love your pictures and how you arranged them together. And your words about spring is giving us hope here up north – maybe spring will reach us too …
Love the bright, clean photos on your blog – have added you to my reader! I’ll just have to live vicariously through the photos until spring makes its way north to new york…
I’m in love with your photos. They are absolutely beautiful!
Uh totally a champion meal. Looks amazing! I haven’t seen local asparagus in the markets (though CA is sort of close, I guess) so I’ll wait to make this because it just seems spectacular!
Wow, what beautiful photos! This sounds amazing.
I love your music pairing for this! Now that I think about it, crab and beer would make my list of top last meals as well. This looks amazing. We are experiencing the first signs of spring around central Kentucky, but crab will likely not be found any time soon. It’s foods like these for which we travel and they are well worth traveling for!
You can never go wrong with dungeness crab! The photos are delicious — now I’m really craving some Springtime goodness.
agree with all the comments above…love the presentation of the ingredients. Might have to copy that!! :) surprised that there’s no lemon/salt and pepper dip for the crab :)
I’m sure you’ve heard all this before but… You are a fantastic writer, photographer and cook extraordinaire! I just stumbled across your blog and look foward to reading more. Well done!
Crab would definitely be my last-meal-before-I-die if I got to choose one! Your pics look great and these asparagus, oh my!
I just gave you an AWARD! Come over & pick it up! http://ow.ly/1qscVT
What a gorgeous asparagus recipe to celebrate spring’s arrival. Just want to let you know about an asparagus recipe contest that’s super simple to enter and offers gourmet prizes. Hope you’ll join us at Beet ‘n Squash YOU!
Love, Mel
You still amaze and delight me! gorgeous photos and delicious idea. best from Montecito, California
What a beautiful photography! love asparagus and your idea of cooking it
I love the freshness and zoom-in details of your photographs.
Amelia from http://www.ztatsylife.com
Your photos are just breathtaking.
Your photography is so pretty I want to cry…and then go try taking more pictures!
love the food stylism ! your blog is full of lovely goodies :}
Just finished eatting this and cannot say how good it was!!!! Thanks for the recipe : )
My pleasure! So happy you enjoyed it, Ashley!!