Festive Appetizers
Emeril Lagasse prepares delicious party hors d'oeuvres.
Hot Crab Dip
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The Martha Stewart Show, December 2009
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Yield Makes about 2 quarts
Serves 12 to 16
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Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup chopped onions
- 1 cup chopped red bell peppers
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons coarse salt
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Emeril's Original Essence
- 1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoon minced scallions
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 pound lump crabmeat, picked through for shells and cartilage
- 1/2 cup saltine or butter cracker crumbs
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- Toast points or crackers, for serving
Directions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, bell peppers, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon Essence. Cook, stirring, until vegetables are soft, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set vegetables aside.
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Place cream cheese, mayonnaise, parsley, scallions, lemon juice, remaining teaspoon salt, and remaining tablespoon Essence in the bowl of a food processor; process until smooth. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; fold in cooked vegetables and crabmeat. Transfer to a 2-quart baking dish.
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In a small bowl, mix together breadcrumbs and melted butter; stir to combine. Spread breadcrumb mixture over crabmeat mixture and bake until hot and bubbly, about 30 minutes.
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Serve with toast points or crackers.
This recipe was delicious! Makes a great presentation for entertaining. I substitued Veganaise for Mayo. Neufchatel for Cream Cheese. Adobo seasoning for Emeril spice. I added more red peppers and onions than the recipe called for and a dash of black and red pepper. I crumbled Multigrain crackers right over the top before baking - without adding any butter. I served it with Melba toast and Multigrain crackers.
In part 2 it asks for Emeril's Original Essence 1tsp I used cayenne pepper. In part 3 they ask for 1 tbsp of Emeril's Original Essence. I used .5 tbsp of old bay and .5 tbsp of the cayenne pepper again. I would think maybe next time to cool it down heat wise I would use a full tbsp of old bay. It was a big hit as was though.