All things crab take me back to a late summer boardwalk on the Maryland coast. Once upon a time I had a mini love affair with Maryland. I had just quit my job and bought a one-way ticket to Europe, soon to be embarking on what would become a 15 country hiatus. There was just one problem, my then boyfriend wanted to go “find himself” in Baltimore and climb the corporate ladder as they say. I internally folded at the idea of myself committing to Maryland, but I went anyways. My mind was already mapping out all of Europe in my head.
Maryland Boardwalks
The coming weeks were spent roaming the Inner Harbor and soaking up the smell of a Maryland boardwalk. I skipped my way around Fells Point pointing at cute little row-house apartments I could see myself creating a colorful life in. I was completely intoxicated by Baltimore. Afternoons were spent watching the ships roll in with their catch of the day. Nights were spent in pubs slamming draft beers, eating old bay infused crab cakes, and spinning around to acoustic sets. I was having a love affair, and it’s name was Baltimore.
Eventually September rolled around, I boarded to plane to Norway, and left the intoxicating smells of salt water and old bay seasoning behind. That’s the hard part of loving so many people and places. You’re constantly leaving your heart in pieces around the world. Like some sort of scavenger hunt, you expect someone to be able to put them all together one day. I left Baltimore, knowing it was a forever goodbye. I still had so much left to do, so many things to fall in love with. With so many dishes to meet, I simply met Baltimore too soon I had decided.
How to Make Crab Dip Without Seafood
I want to preface this recipe, by saying… you’re going to make this a 100 times and fall in love with it over and over again. So if you’re on the fence about making this… just do it. Guess what? Not only are you going to adore it- all your seafood loving family members are too. In fact, don’t even tell them what it is until after they eat it… that’s what I have to do with my brother. He “hates” everything until I feed it to him and then he’s asking for seconds on a watermelon sushi bowl, but he “hates” watermelon… and sushi. Make it make sense.
If you are looking for seafood texture, then my favorites include…
- Heart of Palm
- Oyster Mushrooms
- Artichoke Hearts
- Banana Blossoms
- Celery Root
For this recipe, I went with a mixture of heart of palm and artichoke hearts. There are so many ways to give seafood dishes that ocean feel, without using animal products. I am addicted to nori sheets aka seaweed paper. You should ALWAYS have these in your pantry. I tend to blend them into little flakes and add them to broths or dips.
Vegan Dairy
In this day and age, there is a vegan or plant based option for nearly everything at your local market. When recipes call for sour cream or milk, I simply just use the plant version. This new wave of plant based movement has really got my wheels turning on healthier alternatives. One common thing I hear when people want to decrease their animal product consumption is that THEY LOVE CHEESE. Oh, I get it… I really do. I simply adore a smorgasbord of cheese on a polished charcuterie board. If you stay tuned into the blog, I have so many recipes to satisfy all those cravings. Hell, we will even go to France and lay in a park discussing a French cashew ‘cheese’ spread over a freshly made baguette.
“I don’t mind if you wanna go anywhere, I’ll take you there.”
