Peruvian Crab Causa

"My friend Rosario, just returned from her home in Peru and she gave me this recipe, It is delicious! "A "causa: is a dish of layered ingredients(like a terrine) served cold for a light entree or a first course on warm days, making it an ideal dish for entertaining. Embellish each serving with a wedge of an avocado sprinkled with salt, pepper and lime juice, then garnish with slices of hard-boiled egg and a drizzle of mayonnaise slightly diluted by lemon juice." Don't let the long laundry list scare you - it's really worth trying. Cooling times vary - I figure about 2 hrs."
 
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Ready In:
1hr 50mins
Ingredients:
19
Serves:
6
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ingredients

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directions

  • Grease a 12-inch rectangular bread mold and cover with 2 large pieces of plastic wrap making sure they overlap so all the bottom and sides of the mold are covered and there is enough wrap on the sides of the mold so as to fold it once the causa has been assembled and you can tightly cover it.
  • PREPARE THE RELISH:

  • To start the relish, finely mince the red onion, place it in a bowl and cover it with the vinegar; allow to rest for about 45 minutes.
  • POTATO PASTE:

  • Place potatoes in a large pot with enough cold water to cover them by over 2 inches of water, add 2 tablespoons of salt and bring to a boil.
  • Cook for about 25 minutes, until potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife.
  • Drain and let them cool until you can handle them safely.
  • Meanwhile, place the jalapeno pepper slices along with their juice in a blender and blend until smooth.
  • Strain the mixture, separating the juice from pulp and keeping both.
  • When the potatoes are cooled, peel them.
  • Once they are peeled, press the potatoes through a potato ricer or the fine side of a cheese grater, making sure no lumps remain.
  • Place potato paste in a large bowl and add the lime juice, canola or corn oil and 4 tablespoons of the jalapeño juice.
  • Mix with a potato masher, adding salt and pepper to taste.
  • Place in the refrigerator until cooled.
  • TO COMPLETE THE RELISH:

  • Strain the onion, discarding the vinegar; mix with the cilantro, a little bit of salt and pepper, 1/2 cup of the minced yellow peppers, the lime juice and 1 tablespoon of the jalapeno pulp (not the juice).
  • Taste and check seasoning adding more salt, pepper, juice or paste if desired, according to preference.
  • MAKE THE CAUSA:

  • Mix the crabmeat with the mayonnaise and the lime juice; season with salt and pepper to taste.
  • Place in refrigerator.
  • Cut the avocado in half lengthwise, removing the pit.
  • Cut each half in half again, making a total of four wedges.
  • Using a large spoon, scoop each full avocado wedge out of the skin.
  • Cut 1/4-inch thick slices across each avocado wedge (not lengthwise).
  • Season with a little bit of salt, pepper and sprinkle some lime juice over all the slices.
  • PREPARE THE TERRINE OR BREAD MOLD:

  • Once the potato paste is cooled, use a large spoon to spread 1/3 of the paste into a layer at the bottom of the bread mold.
  • Use the backside of the spoon to evenly coat all of the bottom.
  • Place 1/2 of the avocado slices in the mold for the next layer — making sure all corners and sides of the mold are covered with avocado.
  • Set aside six dollops of crabmeat mixture for the serving.
  • Now place 1/2 of the remaining crabmeat mixture into the mold for the next layer.
  • Press down firmly with the back of a spoon.
  • Repeat with one layer each of potato paste, avocado and crab, and then finish with a layer of potato paste on top.
  • Fold the plastic wrap over the top of the mold (use more plastic wrap if needed to seal the top well).
  • Press slightly and put in the refrigerator to chill well, at least one hour. (Place the extra crabmeat mix into the refrigerator as well.).
  • To serve, carefully uncover the plastic wrap from the top of the mold.
  • Unmold the crab causa over a serving platter.
  • Spread some of the relish over the top of the causa.
  • Place chopped lettuce leaves on six serving plates.
  • Cut the causa carefully into six slices and, using a spatula, lift each slice and place one slice on top of the lettuce on each serving plate.
  • Add more of the relish on the top of each slice and a dollop of the reserved crabmeat mix.
  • Enjoy!

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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p>Hello all, thank you for visiting My Page but forgive me for&nbsp;it is a work in progress! :) As I am sure you have noticed I changed my Chef Name to Manami which means love &amp; beauty. ;) Just thought I should get with the program - my geisha &amp; my icon! :) Don't fret, I won't change it again! <br /><br />I am 70 years young and I live in a nursing home, which is out of this world, I am treated like a princess and the world is my oyster! I have a private room and during the season I do taxes for most of the staff, as well as my personal clients that have been following me since I left the business world about 25 years ago. I was rear-ended by a van and it turned my whole world upside down. Why dwell on that? <br /><br />I am an American Jew (from NYC) who moved to Havana, Cuba when I was 2 1/2 years old, lived there until a few days after Castro took over and vamoosed it out of that country as fast as my legs would carry me! I&nbsp;was on a forced hiatus from the UofM, due to illness. <br /><br />From there my sister, mother and I went to NYC to work and my father went to Haiti in Port-Au-Prince, where he and my uncle had purchased some tiny cocoa plantations &amp; a chocolate factory - for the choccolate liquer - to make baking chocolate (the real bitter stuff). We joined my father about 2 months later where I spent 2 of the most carefree &amp; wonderful years of my life! It is the stuff that movies are made of! (A la Grace Kelly - even my clothes were like hers)&gt;&nbsp;</p> <p>I then continued my studies in upstate NY and hated it because it was too, too cold!:( Went back to NYC to work and see what I wanted to do with my life - I was all of 20 years old and had to drop out of school because of illness and then because of the weather! Yuck - so I got a job in a Textile Buying Office as a receptionist and soon I found myself buying trimmings! Loved it and was very happy with the work I was doing. <br /><br />However, I got an offer from two young guys who had a factory in Cleveland, Ohio, where they made Maternity Clothes and they wanted me to be in charge of the shipping dept, keep inventory and in my spare time - help with the designing!! I couldn't pass it up - the offer sounded so great and the salary was twice what I was making in the NYC. So I went to Cleveland, got married, had both my children and got a divorce 15 years later. <br /><br />Then my children and I moved to South Florida and have been here since 1978, I can't count that far back :) <br /><br />Learned how to do taxes with H&amp;R Block and worked simultaneously&nbsp;as a Supervisor in 2 offices&nbsp;for them for 15 years. Then after the accident everything went spiralling downwards until I could no longer walk alone even with a walker - so the next step was a wheelchair. Stayed at home with a lot of help (nurses, PT therapists) fixed the bathroom so I could bathe myself and fixed the kitchen so I could help warm-up meals (was taught how to cook in rehab) and so forth and so on. <br /><br />However, the fire department had other plans for me, I called them too often to pick me up off the floor - how embarassing! So they gave me a choice - either a home or they would have to call HRS! :( (very sad) <br /><br />It was there, in my home where I was robbed! <img title=Cry src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-cry.gif border=0 alt=Cry />&nbsp;All my cookbooks (all my Julia Childs Cookbooks, my Settlement Cookbook which had been my mothers - published in 1939 - with all her notes) my mother's cookbooks from Cuba &amp; Haiti, all my handwritten recipes. They also took all my Delft collection, some antiques that I had in the kitchen like my rolling pin, a beautiful old &amp; used wooden bowl, a charcoal-iron that was brought north when my parents left Haiti, it was hand-painted &amp; was gorgeous, as well as all the other things that are too numerous to mention! <br /><br />That proved to be the last straw &amp; from there it was an ALF,<img title=Yell src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-yell.gif border=0 alt=Yell /> which was horrible, and then on to another home where the administrator of that home became the administrator here and voila, here I am. <img title=Smile src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-smile.gif border=0 alt=Smile /></p> <p>I have a beautiful large private room with a private&nbsp;bath, furnished to my liking: eclectic!&nbsp;<img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /> My room is large enough to house my office and all the other odds and ends with which I like to surround myself.<br /><br />During tax season, mostly, my room is always full (of course I love it that way)! I have a blanket&nbsp;my daughter bought for me in New Mexico and that is on my bed. You guessed it - that is where everbody sits or on my great grandfather's arm chair which is in great shape. <img title=Smile src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-smile.gif border=0 alt=Smile />&nbsp;Update 01/11/2008 that time is here again :) Have started doing taxes already and not just regular taxes but corporations, partnerships and 1040X - ammended returns! Whoopee! I love the feeling I get when this time comes around and I get into gear!!! I love it! :) <br /><br />The head chef, the kitchen supervisor &amp; the dietician enjoy the recipes from Zaar; the ones that I post, as well as, the others. We are in the process of changing the menu right now - so we have been doing a lot of figuring. The administrator is so cute because every once in a while she asks for a recipe and then she gives me a pack of paper so I can print them. <img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /><br /><br />I am president of the resident council and most of the family members come to me to take care of their grievances - this way I do my part - and the staff can take care of the larger problems! It has been working for 10 years - why change if it ain't broke?<img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /></p> <p>Well, it's time to say hasta luego folks. <img title=Laughing src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-laughing.gif border=0 alt=Laughing /><br /><br /></p>
 
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