FFwD: Crab-Avocado Ravioli

I did not have a phenomenal week, as far as dinners go. Things just went wrong at every turn, all week long. Is there a full moon or something?

This week, the French Fridays with Dorie gang made Crab-Avocado Ravioli. This is supposed to be two thin slices of avocado that encompasses a crab/lime/cilantro mixture in the shape of a ravioli. I knew right off the bat that I'd be turning this into a salad. Dorie says to use your mandolin to slice the avocado WITH THE PIT STILL IN. Maybe that would work if you have access to a fancy, restaurant-grade mandolin, but there was no chance my neon green cheapy would be up to the task, and I'm pretty sure I'd lose my fingertips (best case scenario) along the way. No thanks.

I don't think crab is local here in Naples, which means that it doesn't exist. I've never seen it in the store, in any form. The Commissary sells one-pound cans of claw meat, so I bought one of those. Mistake, though I don't know what my alternative was. Maybe I should have made this with shrimp. The crab tasted like the South Street Seaport in Manhattan smelled, circa 1989 (aka horrible). Additionally, I couldn't get my hands on cilantro, so the crab mixture was a disgusting bust.

My avocados were crispy. Felt soft enough on the outside, but inside they were inedible. Bust.

I wish this was the first time I had this problem with Commissary avocados.

Matt attempted to salvage this salad by sauteeing up some zucchini, since the avocado was totally useless. Even still, I couldn't stomach it. The crab was flat-out too fishy and wrong.

That's a lot of nasty crab.

So, this recipe was disgusting for me, but I am certain that I'd love it with fresh and ripe ingredients. Bummer. If I end up back in the DC or Norfolk area for our next tour, you can bet that this will be one of the first recipes I try once I have access to Chesapeake Blue Crab again. Until then, I'll be avoiding crab.

This week, I also made up the Garbure from the Supermarket. I never made this recipe because I never make ham, and therefore had no ham bone to use. Fortunately, my friend offered me one that was sitting in her freezer, so I snatched it up.

I'm thirsty.

I should have read the recipe closer. I didn't realize that it's meant to boil for three whole hours. I remembered that Doristas said that they put their vegetables in halfway through so they didn't dissolve, but when I read the instructions, I thought it only boiled for an hour. My bad. My vegetables disintegrated, and I oversalted it. By a lot. I hated it the first night. The second, I added more water, potatoes, carrots, and beans to absorb some of the salt. It helped, but the whole thing still tasted like hot ham water to me.

No thanks.