This minimally adorned, luscious crab appetizer recipe features winter’s fresh Dungeness crab with an Asian accent. An umami-rich spoonful offers the perfect food pairing with Jordan Russian River Valley Chardonnay.

Instructions

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To prepare the vinaigrette, place miso, ginger, shichimi togarashi, scallions, yuzu or lemon juice and mirin into a blender. Blend at medium speed and slowly pour oils into the blender in a steady stream to emulsify. Transfer to a bottle, stir in sesame seeds; season to taste with salt and pepper, and reserve.

For the crab, prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice and water.

In a 3-gallon stockpot heat the olive oil until it shimmers then add fennel, celery and leeks, sautéing until just translucent. Add the parsley, salt, peppercorns, wine and two gallons of water and bring to a boil. Lower the crabs into the pot and cook over high heat for 10 minutes or until shells turn red.

Remove crabs with tongs and plunge into ice bath to stop cooking. Clean crabs, pick over meat, discarding any bits of shell and reserve the chunks of crab.

Toss crab with just enough miso vinaigrette to lightly coat. Gently pile one tablespoon of the crab appetizer on each Chinese spoon, drizzle with Jordan extra virgin olive oil and garnish with shiso leaves.