Dungeness crab finger sandwiches
Makes 4 portions
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons finely diced fennel
2 tablespoons finely diced celery root
1 tablespoon capers, minced
½ teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon
5 canned anchovy fillets, chopped
2 hard-cooked eggs, shelled and chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ pound Dungeness crab meat
Salt and fresh-ground white pepper
8 slices (¼ inch thick) brioche loaf or good quality
white bread
1. In a medium bowl, mix together mayonnaise, fennel, celery root, capers, tarragon, anchovies, eggs, and lemon juice. Add crab and mix gently to retain large pieces; season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Spread crab mixture equally onto 4 bread slices. Cover each sandwich with another bread slice. Trim crusts from bread and discard. Cut each sandwich crosswise into 4 equally wide pieces. Serve; if not serving at once, cover with a damp towel to prevent bread drying.
To serve: Arrange these little sandwiches on plates to pick up and eat.
Dungeness crab pairs great with holiday-season vegetables such as butternut squash, pumpkin, and beets. It's refreshingly enhanced by Meyer lemons tha tare available now.
About Bruce Mason Hill:
Bruce Hill, a San Francisco based chef started cooking when he was 18 years old in kitchens in Washington, DC and San Francisco. A self-trained chef, he has worked at many of the finest restaurants in San Francisco including Stars, Aqua, Oritalia, The Waterfront and BIX. His newest venues are Picco and Pizzeria Picco & Wine Bar.
Bruce was a sous chef at Stars with Jeremiah Tower in the mid 1980's, Sous chef at Aqua in 1991 and then brought Oritalia to fame in 1993 with his first chef post. He was recruited to transform the Waterfront Restaurant in 1997, In 2000 Bruce joined forces with Real Restaurants, consulting at Betelnut, Buckeye Roadhouse, and Fog City Diner. He took on the executive chef /partner role at Bix in 2002. Bruce, as chef /owner opened Picco and Pizzeria Picco in 2005. Pizzeria Picco has received many accolades in the press including Michael Bauer from the San Francisco Chronicle; "Pizzeria Picco serves the best pizza in the Bay Area" and from the esteemed Mario Batali in the April 2006 Gourmet Magazine that Pizzeria Picco is "the best in the country. His Margherita pizza is so good; it's enough to make you cry."
All of Bruce's 3 restaurants are named in the SF chronicle's top 100 list. In 2007, Bruce served as culinary Ambassador representing San Francisco with a delegation celebrating the 50 year sister city relationship with Osaka, Japan Bruce lives in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco with his fiancé, Kim . When not in the kitchen he enjoys mushroom foraging in Sonoma and Mendocino
Websites:
>> http://www.sfchefsfoodwine.com
>> http://www.bixrestaurant.com
