Warm Crab Dip

It's the end of a long week in this house. The snow and ice have been endlessly annoying and have cramped our social life significantly, but, as promised, the crab dip is here. The kids are perched in front of the latest Disney movie and I have a moment to write up.

I first made this, ridiculously simple, dip for Thanksgiving, when I trotted out a bunch of appetizers during the course of the day, prior to the main event. It was well received by all and so I hit repeat for Christmas. If I remember correctly, even most of the kids ate it too.

The base recipe is from epicurious:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Baked-Crab-Dip-360830

however I healthied it up a little more by substituting some low fat (or in my case 0% fat) greek yogurt instead of some of the mayo. I do not like a lot of mayo in my food so will generally cut it with some plain yogurt, low fat sour cream, lemon juice or vinegar depending on what I'm making. I changed up the herbs and used roasted peppers instead of fresh.

All in all, a tasty, easy and somewhat healthy dip.

Warm Crab Dip

Ingredients

6 oz/ 170g fresh (or canned) crab meat, well drained

1/2 cup/ 75g diced red pepper (I use roasted sometimes)

1/2 cup/ 25 g finely chopped fresh parsley or basil

1/4 cup/ 60 ml mayonnaise

1/4 cup/ 60 ml reduced fat greek yogurt or sour cream

4 oz/ 115g low fat cream cheese

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp hot sauce

1/4 cup/ 25 g breadcrumbs

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F/ 220°C/ gas mark 7
2. Mix together all the ingredients except for the breadcrumbs and lemon zest.
3. Taste and season or add more hot sauce as necessary
4. Mix the breadcrumbs and lemon zest together.
5. Transfer to a small baking dish or 2 medium sized ramekins and sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture on top
6. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes until golden on top
7. Serve warm with dippers such as crudites, pita chips, rye toasts or crostinis.

Enjoy!