Recipe #92: Crab and Avocado Salad

Fresh, easy, and seafoody!  Made this for dinner tonight, and it's quite filling.  I was excited to use a new ingredient:  anchovies!  At first, I was going to skip them, but I decided that I'd try them... they get blended into the dressing anyways, just like Caesar dressing.  This recipe is intended to feed four people, and won't make good leftovers (soggy lettuce and croutons- yuck...) so half it if you're only feeding two.  This is from Food Network magazine (and also on their site).

Interesting assortment... but it comes together well!

Ingredients

• Kosher salt
• 1/2 pound haricots verts or green beans, halved
• 2/3 cup low-fat plain yogurt  (I used plain Greek yogurt)
• 3 tablespoons low-fat mayonnaise
• 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh chives
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 3 anchovy fillets, chopped
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 pound lump or claw crabmeat
• 1 Hass avocado, halved, pitted and diced
• 3 romaine hearts, chopped  (I used 2)
• 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat croutons  (I used whatever...)
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions

Bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the haricots verts and cook until crisp-tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking.
Puree the yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice, chives, basil and anchovies in a blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
Toss the crabmeat, half of the avocado and about 1 tablespoon of the yogurt dressing in a small bowl. Toss the romaine, croutons, haricots verts and the remaining avocado with the remaining dressing in a large bowl.
Divide the romaine salad among plates, top with the tomatoes and place some of the crab mixture in the center.