Joyful Abode

One night, much to the dismay of the guy, who likes huge slabs of meat next to piles of starch… I was really in the mood for hors d’oeuvres. Call them what you will: appetizers, starters, or-dervs… I think they’re excellent. Little bites of yum, no matter what kind they are.

So I dug around the kitchen for a while until I came up with an idea. All of the ingredients are things we always try to have on hand (we stock up when they’re on sale):

• 1 package of imitation crab meat (krab)
• 1 package of bacon
• Ritz crackers
• cream cheese

Separate the chunks of imitation crab meat. If there are really big pieces, you may want to cut them in half.

Then, slice your bacon into thirds (so each piece is 1/3 of the length of a whole piece).

Tightly wrap each chunk of krab with a piece of bacon, and secure with a toothpick. The bacon is sort of stretchy, so it works out well.

Put your rolls onto a cooling rack IN a cookie sheet (so there’s space between the rack and the sheet for the grease to drip down). Place them in a cold oven, and set the temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cook for half an hour, flip them if necessary, and cook for about another half an hour or until they’re as crispy as you like. The imitation crab meat is already cooked through when you buy it, so you’re just cooking the bacon.

While this is happening, grab some Ritz crackers and spread them with some cream cheese. Just a little will do; enough to “stick” the crab/bacon rolls and taste good.

When the crab rolls are finished cooking, set them on some paper towels to get any excess grease out. Then set them on top of the crackers and cheese.

Voila! Hors d’oeuvres, starters, appetizers… Crabettes!

PS if you save any bacon-wrapped crab pieces without putting them on crackers, they reheat very nicely in a toaster oven (on a baking sheet of course) on the broil setting.