Vanilla Cream and Mango Crab Tower

Every good chef steals his material, and I've stolen this concept from Dan who, in turn, stole it from someone else. He does an ahi tower, and this is a distinct enough evolution that it won't trample on his idea.

The new saucing trend among haute seafood is pairing vanilla with lobster. Although the lobster mitts at French Laundry had no vanilla (that I know of) in the celeriac, it definitely had a faint whisp of vanilla, undoubtebly projected from my mind. I decided to use this application to make a semi-sweet cream reduction and pair that with backfin lump crab. You need to use a sweet crab such as backfin blue lump, king crab, snow crab or dungeness. You can find pre-picked backfin at Whole Foods in a 9 oz. foil pouch called Star Crab. It is quite good, and I've never run across a significant shell.

Ingredients:

1/2 small carton of heavy whipping cream
pinch of salt
backfin lump crab meat. Don't bother with this recipe if you can't get it.
1 teaspoon sugar
1 dash of nutmeg
2 dashes of celery seed
3-4 drops of real vanilla extract
six wonton wrappers (not wutang rappers)
2 tablespoons diced mango

Prepare the cream reduction by mixing the cream, salt, sugar, celery seed, nutmeg and vanilla in a little sauce pan and simmer on low, stirring often.

While that is reducing (reduce by half, until you get a solid nappe), cut the wontons with a cookie cutter or round lid. Fry lightly until crisp, and drain.

The crab meat should already be cooked. Prepare by placing a dallop of the cream on the plate, then an ounce or two of crab. Sprinkle on some mango dice and cap with a wonton crisp. Repeat as tall as you'd like, three layers is perfect.

Sauce on top and sprinkle mango as garnish, you can even throw on a mint or basil leaf on the side or top the tower with microgreens or frisee for a nice contrast in color.

The tastes and textures paired exquisitely. The contrast of the crispy wonton provided structure to the sweet overtones. Crab was invented to pair perfectly with the tropical influences of the mango and vanilla. I was amazed at the outcome, not only the fantastic, bold flavor, but the ease of creation.