This Sunday is Mother's Day and I am sharing with you my recipes that I have every year. Mother's Day is generally the start of soft shell crab season, soft shell crabs are blue crabs that have "molted" or lost their shell, so the entire crab is eaten. It is a very simple recipe so even if your hubby is not much of a cook I am sure it is something he could handle.

I think cobb salad, goes perfectly with the soft shell crab. If you don't know, the cobb salad was made popular by Bob Cobb who owned the famous Hollywood Brown Derby Restaurant back in the 1950's. I actually have The Brown Derby Restaurant book, great old photos of the stars and original recipes.

Mango's and blueberries are also in season. The blueberry buckle is my mother-in-law's recipe and is so good with the lemon sauce. Don't be intimidated by a mango, look for a soft one with a bit of color on the skin and remember they have a very large pit so just cut around it. Check out how to cut a mango on the link. Hope you enjoy the photos of them that I posted. Thank you to my friend Pam, we are having so much fun photographing the food for my upcoming cookbook. Hoping for late June, stay tuned...

Lastly, visit my friends shop Diamond Fresh Seafood in Lake Zurich to pick up your soft shell crabs (see link and call ahead).

Enjoy the beautiful weather and for those of you that have children, Happy Mother's Day!

Go Hawks!

Mango Salsa
2 ripe mangos; ¼ inch dice
1 avocado, diced
½ tsp. minced jalapeno
2Tbls. finely diced red pepper
2 Tbls. cilantro
2 Tbls. orange juice
2 Tbls. diced green onion
salt to taste

Combine all ingredients and toss gently. Serve with tortilla chips.


Cobb Salad
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes; halved and s&p
1 head chopped iceberg lettuce, chopped
¼ cup corn
¾ cup diced red onion
1 large ripe avocado; diced
½ cup crushed tortilla chips (authentic quality)
6 slices cooked bacon; crumbled or about ¾ cup bought crumbled bacon
½ cup crumbled blue cheese


Toss salad ingredients together in a large bowl with dressing. Serves 4-6.

Dressing:
½ cup olive oil (extra virgin)
1 ½ Tbls. balsamic vinegar (aged)
1 tsp. dijon
salt and pepper to taste


Soft Shell Crabs a la Meuniere
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper

8 soft shell crabs
8 tbls. canola oil
8 Tbls. butter
¼ cup flat leaf parsley
2 tsps. garlic
2 Tbls. capers
1 lemon


Mix flour, salt and pepper and put on a plate, dredge soft shell crabs in flour mixture. Heat oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Place flour coated crabs, back side down in oil and sauté until golden about 3 minutes per side (be careful because the crabs contain water in them and they may spatter.) Remove, add butter, garlic, parsley and lemon juice. Pour sauce over crabs.


Blueberry Buckle
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup canola oil
1 egg slightly beaten
½ cup milk
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup blueberries

Crumb Mixture:
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ cup butter, softened

Grease 9x9 pan, flour lightly.
Mix together sugar, oil, egg; stir in milk.
Mix together flour, baking powder and salt; stir into sugar mixture carefully fold in blueberries. Pour into pan.
Mix together crumb mixture and sprinkle over batter.
Bake 45-50 minutes at 350.
Serve with Old Fashioned Lemon Sauce

Old Fashioned Lemon Sauce:
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
¼ cup water
1 egg, well beaten
3 tbls. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest

Combine all ingredients in saucepan.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, just until mixture thickens. Serve warm.