Crab Salad with Orange Spice Dressing

Submitted by AuntWoofieWoof

"This is a salad with a "bite" to it. Arugula leaves have a slight sesame taste and also has a bite to them. They really make the salad taste good. Of course you may use any kind of lettuce or salad greens, but the Arugula leaves really make the difference in this salad. Prep time includes making the salad dressing and refrigerating it."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 30mins
• Ingredients: 19
• Serves: 8-10

ingredients

• CRAB SALAD

• 1⁄2 lb imitation crabmeat (diced)
• 1⁄4 lb arugula leaf
• 1⁄4 lb baby spinach leaves
• 5 green onions (diced)
• 5 fresh asparagus spears (cut in small pieces)
• 2 medium fresh tomatoes (diced)
• 5 small sweet tender carrots (cut in strips)
• 1 can mandarin orange segments

• ORANGE SPICE SALAD DRESSING

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1⁄2 cup half-and-half
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons pickled ginger
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 tablespoons five-spice powder
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 5 tablespoons orange juice concentrate (undiluted)
• 1⁄2 cup canned mandarin orange segments, drained (reserve juice)
• 2 tablespoons mandarin orange juice (from the can of segments)
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar

directions

1. Put all of the salad ingredients in a large salad bowl and toss.
2. Cover with plastic wrap.
3. Set in refrigerator until ready to use.
4. In a blender put in the Mayonnaise and Half and Half and blend for about 8-10 seconds or until well blended.
5. Add pickled ginger and ground ginger and pulse for about 5 seconds.
6. Add sugar, Five Spice and orange juice concentrate and pulse for about 5 seconds.
7. Add remaining ingredients and blend for about 10 seconds or until all of the ingredients are well blended.
8. Pour dressing mixture into a jar or Salad dressing container (such as one from Tupperware) Refrierate for at least one hour before serving to let flavors blend.
9. Using salad tongs or 2 large spoons, put a portion of salad on individual salad plates.
10. Put about 5 or 6 of the mandarin orange segments on each salad.
11. Pour the salad dressing over each salad.

Reviews

[nomnom]

I made this for my parent's anniversary the 30th of June. I MUST state first that I did NOT have five spice, OJ from concentrate, pickled ginger, or rice vinegar. I used allspice, more mandarin juice, white vinegar, 4 oz tofu pureed for the mayo, fat free half & half, and everything else. What a refreshing salad! The kitchen stayed cool for once ;) A word of warning - be sure your ingredients are dry and well-thawed. I ended up with a soggier salad, but that was purely MY fault. The arugula added a bite and bitterness I enjoyed. I like the crab/mandarin combo as well. But I felt the salad was SO much better when I added frozen, thawed peas and pineapple chunks to it and used my usual salad dressing - salsa. The salad dressing (the way *I* made it) was okay, but I greatly prefer my salsa. I'm sure I'd feel that way even if I made your dressing with all the ingredients - I'm just particular that way. I'd LOVE to use your base salald as a template for future salads! Thank you

 

[love4culinary]

This is very interesting! I thought that I might be overwhelmed by all of the orange, but it was just delcious, and almost refreshing! I cut the recipe down as I dont have 8-10 people to serve lol, but its all the same! The arugala and the spinach really do make a difference in this salad... I would not replace them with other greens. I used just a small amount of the dressing on my salad because I dont like to drown my salads lol :-) it was very good however... and I will use this the next time I have a bbq or picnic to go to. I think this would be just perfect!

 

[Rita1652]

So much flavor my mouth was alive!I would cut down on the 5 spice. I used real crab skipped the arugula. Just use all the dressing because the leftover dressing started to I guess you would say ferment(bubble)!

 

[Brian14]

Good but ordinary.

 

[Nita Holleman]

Why go to this much trouble and use "imitation" crab meat? I would use real crab meat.