Deconstructed Crab Rangoon Dip

If you follow Mommie Cooks on Facebook, then you’ll know that I’ve been thoroughly immersed in a culinary boot camp at the downtown campus of Johnson and Wales for the past couple weekends.  I’ve only completed two of the nine classes to date, but in those two weeks we’ve learned everything from basic knife skills to the intricacies of taking apart a whole chicken.   On the agenda for future classes we can expect to learn braising, sauteing, frying, grilling and much, much more.

Chef Rosenbaum preparing for a demonstration on how to filet a rather large and wily looking salmon

I’m not sure if it’s the technical skills being acquired, the delicious end products that are surely adding inches to my waist or the fact that I actually got the guts to finally push the registration button and do something solely for myself, but I wouldn’t change a minute of the experience for anything.

What remained of my sauteed salmon by the time I remembered to take a picture

It’s a long shot, but my fortieth birthday present to myself just might involve another pushing of a registration button; only this time for a more long term culinary education.  A girl can certainly dream, right?

The inspiration for today’s recipe came from a local restaurant here in town called The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar.   They serve burgers, sushi and… are you ready for this?  Burgushi.  Yep, that’s right.  Burgers and sushi all rolled up (literally) into one fabulous meal time bite.  Aside from the patties and fish, the first dish that caught my eye upon opening the menu was a deconstructed crab rangoon that sounded A.mazing.

I decided I needed to order it up pronto and wasn’t disappointed. This was a such a brilliant starter that I simply had to try reconstructing it in my own kitchen.  I made it twice; the first time I used a full pound of crab and the second go round I used half.  My mom and I preferred it with less crab and more creamy, but the other half of the family’s eaters (Scott and my dad) liked the more crab laden form.   Do what works best for your tastes, but whatever you choose by gosh just do it.  This stuff is more than worth the effort.

The first thing you’ll need to do is bake up some wonton chips.

Grab a cookie sheet, line it with parchment and spread a small amount of oil over the top.  Cut your wontons into 8 triangles and lay them on the oiled parchment.

Cook in a hot oven for a couple minutes until the ends of the chips start to turn golden brown.  At that point you’ll pull them out, remove from the parchment and salt heartily.  Repeat this process until you’ve deemed your chip stash ample.

For the dip, grab up a block of cream cheese and swirl it around in a mixer for a minute or so to smooth it out.  Add in such dip delights as lemon juice, mayo, worcestershire and garlic.

Whirl it around to get it good and combined and then drop in the crab and gently fold it in with a spatula.

Dump the finished mixture into a baking dish.

In a separate bowl combine together a tablespoon of melted butter, a few panko bread crumbs, a little Parmesan and some parsley.  Sprinkle it over the top of the dip and drop in the oven for twenty minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Drizzle a little sweet chili sauce over the chips (a must do in this recipe!) and just like that, you’ve successfully deconstructed a crab rangoon; rather deliciously if I do say so myself.

Deconstructed Crab Rangoon

Yield: About 2 Cups of Dip

Total Time: 40 min

Ingredients:

1 Pkg. Wonton Wrappers
3-4 Tbsp Canola Oil

8 Oz. Cream Cheese
1/4 Cup Mayonnaise
1/2 Lemon, Juiced
3 Green Onions
1 tsp Worcestershire
1 Clove Garlic, Minced
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
8-10 Drops Hot Sauce
1/4 tsp Salt and Pepper
8 Oz. Fresh Crab
1 tbsp Butter, Melted
1/2 Cup Panko
1/4 Cup Parmesan
1/2 tsp Parsley
Sweet Chili Sauce for Drizzling over the Wonton Chips

Directions:

For the Chips:

Slice the egg roll wrappers into 8 triangles.

Place a piece of parchment on a cookie sheet and spread a tablespoon of oil over the top.

Lay out the chips on the parchment and cook them in the oven at 425 degrees for 2 to 3 minutes; until the ends start to brown.

Bring them out, sprinkle with salt and let cool.

Refresh the oil after every two batches.

For the Dip:

Drop the cream cheese into a mixer and whip up for a minute or two to smooth it out.

Add in the mayo, lemon juice, green onions, Worcestershire, garlic, onion powder, hot sauce, salt and pepper.

Whip it up for a minute or two more.

Gently fold in the crab.

For the crumb topping, stir together the butter, panko, parmesan and parsley. Spread over the top of the dip.

Slide the dip into the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until bubbly and hot.

Serve chips with sweet chili sauce drizzled over the top.*

*Even if you don't care for sweet chili sauce, give it a go in this recipe. It truly makes the dip!

 

 

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