Crab Rangoon Ravioli

Fresh sheets of egg pasta filled with crabmeat, cream cheese, chives and garlic make the most succulent crab Rangoon ravioli! Serve simply buttered or with the sauce of your choice.  

We don’t eat out very often since I love to cook and my husband has gotten pretty good at it himself, since he started taking turns during the recent pandemic. One place we do like to go is a Chinese buffet that has wonderful sticky ribs and crispy shell on shrimp. It also serves my late sister's favorite, crab Rangoon, crunchy deep-fried wonton wrappers filled with cream cheese and crab. 

Crab and cream cheese are a delightful mixture but I'm not big on deep frying at home so when I had leftover crab a while back filling ravioli to boil seemed like much a better idea.

This is a dish that takes time to make but homemade ravioli dough is so worth it. And the filling is super easy to make! It’s special enough for either the main course at an intimate dinner party, or like fancy Italian restaurants do, you can serve just three or four per person in shallow bowls, as your starter. 

Crab Rangoon Ravioli

This recipe makes about 24 ravioli but is easily doubled. After making and filling the ravioli, any scraps of pasta can be cut into noodles and refrigerated to be boiled for another dish, another day. I used my leftovers in a stir-fry. This recipe was adapted from one on Thailand 1 Dollar Meals.

Ingredients  

For the egg pasta dough:

1 1/2 - 1 2/3 cups or 187.5- 208g tipo 00 flour (plus extra for rolling out the pasta)

1 egg 

1 egg yolk (save white for filling)

2 teaspoons olive oil 

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

For the filling:

Small bunch chives

1 clove garlic

4 3/4 oz or 135g cream cheese

3/4 cup, lightly packed, or 130g crabmeat

1 egg white (saved from making the egg dough)

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

For serving:

Pasta sauce of your choice or simply melted butter and garlic

Parmesan cheese, grated

Extra chives for garnish

Crushed red pepper (optional)

Method

In large bowl, combine 3/4 cup or 94g flour, 1/4 cup or 60ml water and remaining dough ingredients. With mixer at slow speed, beat for two minutes, occasionally scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Using a wooden spoon or a Danish dough whisk, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough. I start with half and go from there. You may not use it all. 

Turn out onto floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Wrap in cling film and let stand at least 30 minutes. (After the 30 minutes, refrigerate the dough if you aren’t ready to assemble your ravioli yet.) 

While the dough rests, we can get on to the ravioli filling. It couldn’t be simpler. 

Finely chop the chives and mince the garlic. 

Mix all the ingredients together well in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

Once the dough has rested, cut it in four equal pieces and remove one. Wrap the rest of the dough again with the cling film.

Flour the dough ball well and use a rolling pin or a pasta roller to roll it out quite thinly to the size of your ravioli plaque. Check out my original ravioli post to see my roller in action.

Flour your ravioli plaque liberally and lay the sheet of pasta on top. Fill each hole with about a teaspoon of the filling.

Using the second quarter of the dough and, following the same instructions, roll it out to the size of your ravioli plaque.

Use a pastry brush to wet the pasta on the plaque between the spoons of filling.

Carefully, starting at one end, lay the second sheet of pasta on top of the filled one, sticking the two sheets together and pressing out the air as you go along.

Turn the ravioli plaque over and let the filled pasta drop out onto your countertop. If it sticks, just gently pry it off.

Trim the ravioli around the edges and cut them apart.

Set them aside on a plate lined with cling film that has been well floured.

Continue the process until all the ravioli are rolled out, filled and cut apart. I put another layer of cling film and flour again with each layer of ravioli.

The ravioli should be stored in the refrigerator, covered with cling film until you are ready to boil them.

When you are ready to cook the ravioli, warm your sauce of choice or serve simply with some melted butter, perhaps with a little chopped garlic. 

When your sauce is simmering, if using, heat a pot of salted water to boiling. 

Add several ravioli at a time, using a slotted spoon being careful not to over-crowd the pot. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until tender.

Remove with a slotted spoon to the pan with the warmed sauce. As you can see, I added mine to a pan with just butter and garlic. 

Stir gently to coat then spoon into plates or bowls to serve. Top with grated Parmesan, crushed red chili pepper and some chopped chives for garnish, if desired.

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing dinner party dishes! Check out the links below. 

• Anti-Hero Appetizers from Culinary Cam
• Banana Cream Pie from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Black Eyed Peas Curry - Safed Lobia ka Salan from Sneha's Recipe
• Crab Rangoon Ravioli from Food Lust People Love
• Crockpot Pulled Pork with Ale from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Mini Chicken Tostada Appetizers from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Shrimp, Papaya and Pineapple Salad from Palatable Pastime

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup

This Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup is rich and creamy, full of shrimp and corn (two kinds!) and lots of crabmeat. You might want to double the recipe! This disappears in a heartbeat. 

My mom has been telling me about this soup for quite a while and sending me multiple copies of the recipe. It comes from a lady who was a dear friend to my Aunt Karen in New Orleans. Ms. Debbie is a great cook (as was my wonderful late aunt of best pecan pie ever fame) and she was very happy to share. Like every Cajun recipe, it starts with the holy trinity of onions, bell pepper and celery. 

For some reason, my mom seemed to think it was a crab soup so maybe that’s how my aunt made it but in Ms. Debbie’s original recipe, it was called shrimp soup and the crab was optional. 

Since crabmeat is so expensive, you could just double the shrimp but I’m here to tell you that the addition of lump crabmeat is fabulous if it's within your budget for a special occasion. I must confess at this juncture that since my mom really really wanted me to cook this soup, she paid for the crab and I purchased the rest of the ingredients. We were both happy with the deal we struck.  So happy that after the first batch, I made one more on the same terms. 

Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup

If my shrimp are large, I like to use a sharp knife to cut them right through the middle lengthwise into two shrimp-shaped halves. This means more bites of soup with shrimp in them. You could also leave yours whole if they are small or cut them into chunks. As for the cream of shrimp soup, mine was Campbell's. When my mom first shared the recipe, I thought that must be one of the old fashioned canned soups that is no longer made since I'd never seen it. Turns out I had just never looked closely enough at the soup aisle! One of my local grocery stores does indeed stock Campbell's cream of shrimp. Who knew?

Ingredients

1/2 cup or 113g butter

1 small onion

1 small bell pepper

1 long stalk celery

2 cloves garlic

1 lb or 450g shrimp, already peeled and cleaned

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning (Tony Chachere's or the like)

1 can (10.5 oz or 298g) cream of shrimp soup

1 can (10.5 oz or 298g) cream of celery soup

1 can (14.75 oz or 418g) cream style corn

1 can (15 oz or 425g) whole kernel corn, drained

2 cups or 480ml half and half (or 1 cup milk and 1 cup whipping cream)

1 teaspoon liquid crab boil

1 lb or 450g lump crabmeat, picked over carefully for shell bits 

Optional for garnish: chopped parsley and a sprinkle of Cajun seasonings

Method

Finely chop the onion, bell pepper and celery and mince the garlic. Melt the butter in a Dutch oven a low heat then add everything but the garlic. 

Sauté for a few minutes until the vegetables are softened and the onion is translucent. Add the garlic to the pot. Sauté for another couple of minutes. 

Add in the shrimp and sprinkle on the Cajun seasoning. Stir well and cook till shrimp are pink. 

Add the rest of the ingredients, except the crab. 

Slowly heat the soup and then simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often. 

While the soup is simmering, pick through the crab carefully and discard any bits of shell you find. 

When you are ready to serve, add in the crabmeat and heat until it is warmed through. 

Stir gently to keep the crabmeat intact as much as possible. 

Serve in bowls with a sprinkle of chopped parsley and a pinch of Cajun seasoning for flavor and color. 

Enjoy! 

It’s third Friday of the month, time for my Fish Friday Foodie friends to share their seafood recipes! I’m hosting this month and chose seafood soups as our theme. There are lots of warm and comforting dishes in the list below, perfect for winter weather! 

• Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup from Food Lust People Love
• Lobster Wonton and Corn Chowder from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Salmon Chowder from Making Miracles
• Shrimp Fra Diavolo Soup from Palatable Pastime
• Shrimp Ramen from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• White Hot & Sour Chicken & Prawn Soup from Sneha’s Recipe

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

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Artichoke Crab Dip Pasta Bake #FishFridayFoodies

This artichoke crab dip pasta bake starts with the main ingredients of everyone’s favorite baked artichoke dip, then adds crab, mushrooms and pasta for a delicious casserole the whole family will love.

One of our favorite things to have for a Sunday lunch is the chancre crabs found offshore the Channel Islands. They are huge, like Dungeness crabs, with wonderful flavor. We buy one per person so there are often leftovers enough to make another meal.

This pasta bake is one such. We like it so much that I’ve since made versions with shrimp and fish, so feel free to substitute your own favorite cooked seafood.

Artichoke Crab Dip Pasta Bake

If you do want to use crabmeat and don’t have leftovers from steamed crabs, by all means use the fresh picked stuff you can buy at the store. Ive used it in many recipes including Aunt Neen's Stuffed Crab.

Ingredients
1 lb or 450g shell (or your favorite shape) pasta
4 oz or 113g fresh button mushrooms
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup or 60ml butter
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups or 200g picked cooked crabmeat
1 1/2 cups or about 190g finely grated Parmesan, divided
1 cup or 240g mayonnaise (NOT Miracle Whip or salad cream – they are too sweet.)
1 can (14oz or 400g) artichoke hearts, drained weight 8 1/2oz or 240g
1 small hot red chili, minced, optional but highly recommended

Method
Cook the pasta according to package instructions, leaving it decidedly al dente. This leaves room for it to continue cooking as it bakes and to absorb the flavors of the artichoke crap dip mixture.

While the pasta is cooking, slice the mushrooms and pan fry them over a high heat in the olive oil until they turn golden, about 5-7 minutes.

Warm the butter in a small pot and add in the minced garlic. Set aside to cool. When the pasta is cooked, reserve a cup of the cooking water and drain the pasta. Set aside to cool.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Chop the well-drained artichokes roughly.

Mix all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl, reserving 1/2 cup or 63g of the Parmesan for topping. If it seems a bit dry, stir in some of the reserved pasta water.

Spoon the mixture into a greased baking pan. Top with the reserved cheese.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes or until the pasta is heated through and golden brown.

Enjoy!

This month my Fish Friday Foodie friends are celebrating Christmas Eve in a special way, as Italian Americans do, with the feast of the seven fishes. There are no hard rules, but here is how Bon Appetit outlines it.
1st course: Appetizer or a snack
2nd course: Seafood salad
3rd course: Meaty fish, grilled or broiled
4th course: Fish in pasta
5th course: Seafood Stew
6th course: palate cleanser like gelato
7th course: light dessert such as Italian cookies

Mine, of course. is for the fourth course. Our host today is Karen from Karen's Kitchen Stories, a fellow blogger I’ve had the privilege to meet. Check out all of the lovely seafood recipes we are sharing below.

• Artichoke Crab Dip Pasta Bake from Food Lust People Love
• Baked Mussels from Caroline's Cooking
• Crab Bites from Making Miracles
• Creamy Clam Dip from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Creamy Mackerel Salad for Two from Sneha's Recipes
• Italian Seafood Salad (Insalata di Mare) from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• La Vigilia di Natale from Culinary Adventures with Camilla, who made new dishes for all of the courses for this Italian Christmas Eve dinner! Fun fact: She once spent a year in Rome and learned the food traditions of Italy. You need to check out her menu!

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

Pin this Artichoke Crab Dip Pasta Bake! 

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Garlicky Lobster Crab Scampi #NationalGarlicDay

Lots of garlic, butter and olive oil make this rich Garlicky Lobster Crab Scampi perfect for serving on a special occasion. Or when you just want to treat yourself. No lobster? Substitute shrimp or prawns!

The summer I was eight years old, we moved from Trinidad to Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, a distance not far as the crow flies, the commercial flight taking only one hour and 20 minutes, but it was a dizzying transfer from a cozy oil field camp on a relatively provincial island to a quick paced city of high rise buildings and busy downtown streets where folks spoke a foreign tongue. And you had to know that language to read the signs, packaging in stores and to order safely from a menu. 

While our house was being readied for move-in, we stayed first in a high-rise hotel and then in a serviced apartment just a few blocks from an Italian restaurant called Da Pippo’s. We ate there several times a week. Funny how memories can be elusive, but I don’t really remember what I used to order. Perhaps it was something normal like pizza or spaghetti, so unremarkable that it escaped recording in my long-term brain cells, but my older sister was consistent.

She got the shrimp scampi every single time. It was loaded with garlic and butter and oil, shelled pink shrimp drowning in that nectar of delight. I don’t recall if she ever shared a shrimp, but sometimes she’d let me dip a piece of the complimentary bread in there. Heaven. 

Now you are probably asking yourself why I didn’t just order my own shrimp scampi and I wish I had a good answer for you. I do wonder that myself. But the good memories made sure that I have recreated that dish more than a few times over the intervening years. 

A little research corrected my misheld assumption that scampi was merely the Italian word for shrimp. It can also mean a dish prepared with garlic butter so occasionally, I vary the seafood, using lobster or crab alone or in combination with the shrimp. But there’s always plenty of garlic and butter and olive oil.

You might remember that last year about this time, I was celebrating National Garlic Day with my friend, Heather from girlichef, and 13 more garlic loving food bloggers. I made a slow roasted lamb shoulder with 40 cloves of garlic that just fell off the bones, it was so tender! Well, we are at it again! 

And I couldn’t think of a better recipe to share than one I created with Da Pippo's shrimp scampi in mind. Feel free to substitute shrimp for the lobster and/or the crab. And make sure you scroll down to see all the great garlicky recipes my friends have made for you today.

Ingredients for two very generous servings
1/4 cup or 60g butter
1/4 cup or 60ml olive oil
15 cloves or 60g garlic
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup or 120ml dry white wine
1/2 - 1 teaspoon cayenne (depending on your taste)
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
Juice of 1/2 lemon
12 1/3 oz or 350g lobster tail meat
1/2 cup or 110g fresh crabmeat
Sea salt to taste.

To serve: spinach fettuccine pasta, cooked to manufacturer’s instructions or some crusty bread, sliced, heaping your scampi on.

To garnish: Few sprigs cilantro or flat leaf parsley

Method
Melt the butter along with the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Mince your garlic and add it to the pan or push it through a garlic press directly into the melted butter and olive oil. Cook for a minute or two until fragrant. Be very careful not to let the garlic burn or it will turn bitter.

Whisk in the Worcestershire sauce, cayenne, whole grain mustard and white wine. Simmer for about five minutes.

Slice your lobster tail.

And add it to the sauce. Cook it just long enough for the meat to turn white, mere minutes.

Add in the crabmeat and cook until it is just warmed through.

Squeeze in the lemon juice and give everything a gentle stir.

Add salt to taste then serve over spinach pasta for extra color. Or alongside some fresh crusty bread.

Garnish with a few sprigs of cilantro or flat leaf parsley.

Enjoy!

Welcome to National Garlic Day 2015, hosted by Heather from girlichef. April 19th is a day for garlic lovers far and wide to come together and celebrate the wonder of "the stinking rose." Whether it's the ability to ward off vampires (and bugs), its numerous health benefits, or the way it lends flavor to a dish, there are so many reasons for singing the praises of garlic.

To help you get in the mood, check out these garlicky good recipes from this year's National Garlic Day bloggers:

• Black Garlic Chocolate Cake from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Chicken with 40 cloves of Garlic from My Catholic Kitchen
• Epic Garlic Bread from Shockingly Delicious
• Garlic and White Bean Hummus from Kelli's Kitchen
• Garlic Lovers Focaccia with Shallots and Sweet Corn from Kudos Kitchen by Reneé
• Garlic-Parmesan Chicken Stuffed Shells for Two from The Spiffy Cookie
• Garlicky Chard Stuffed Flank Steak from girlichef
• Garlicky Lobster Crab Scampi from Food Lust People Love
• Garlicky Rib Eye Steak with Garlic Bruschetta from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• IPA Pickles from NY Foodgasm
• Lebanese Garlic Sauce from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Louisiana Garlic Bread from Wishes and Dishes
• Ricotta, Garlic and Mushroom Flatbread Pizza from Simply Healthy Family
• Roasted Garlic and Parmesan Hummus from From Gate to Plate
• Roasted Garlic Cauliflower from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Roasted Garlic Gruyère Pull-Apart Bread from Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen
• Spicy Garlic Noodles with Pork from Healthy. Delicious.

Neen’s Stuffed Crab

Straight from the pages of The Shadows on the Teche cookbook from New Iberia, Louisiana, Neen's Stuffed Crab is made with fresh picked lump crab meat. It's rich and delicious.

 

From Susie Pharr in the Shadows on the Teche cookbook

This recipe is a tribute to extended family. My Aunt Nonnie, our lovely hostess for the weekend in New Iberia, was blessed with a wonderful sister-in-law named Susie Pharr. Susie’s reputation as a great cook, gracious hostess and generous friend is known far and wide. 

Sadly, we lost Susie to cancer a couple of years back but her legacy of recipes remains because she generously contributed to the Shadows on the Teche cookbook, even as she willingly shared her recipes with friends and family.  This recipe goes back even farther, as it came to her from her husband Mark’s Aunt Neen, who raised him. Passing on recipes is what family is all about.  Cooking together and eating together make that all the more special.  

Neen’s Stuffed Crab

My aunt follows the recipe exactly so she uses margarine but I substitute butter when I make this at home because I never buy margarine. You do you. 

Ingredients

2 medium onions, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

1 medium bell pepper, finely chopped

1/2 pound margarine 

3 stale or day-old hamburger buns

1 cup evaporated milk

2 eggs, beaten

2 pounds crabmeat

1 teaspoon Accent (Monosodium glutamate or MSG)

1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs (I like to use half panko half regular dried)

Butter for topping

Method

Sauté onions, garlic, celery and bell pepper in 1/2 pound margarine until very, very soft.

Crumble hamburger buns and add milk, let soak about one minute.

Add eggs to hamburger buns and milk. 

Add crabmeat to the sautéed seasonings and mix gently.  

Fresh picked, never frozen - it makes all the difference!

Add hamburger bun mixture and heat thoroughly.  

Season to taste.  This filling may be put into crab shells or into a casserole with bread crumbs on top. (Aunt Nonnie also got me to add a few pats of butter.) 

Bread crumbs going on.

My only contribution - the pats of butter.

Bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Even before the meal itself, the best part of getting together with family is the opportunity to hear the old stories. We laughed until we cried at the foibles of family members as youngsters.  Unfortunately, I cannot share those stories because said relatives are now successful adults and would undoubtedly sue. :)