It’s a simple but courageous motto.

I will try anything in the kitchen. No limits. No boundaries. No fears. And while my culinary victories often – well always – make me break out in the happy dance, my culinary faux paws always give me a good laugh. I just shake it off and keep trying until I get it right – that is right with me.

Yep – cook fearlessly, eat well.

That’s what I do. I live by this. And this motto  just happens to be the slogan on my inspirational poster too.  You see the little chicken cooking in the pot is a brave soul whose fate is certain – it will be the entrée to eating well.  Well apparently it’s a motto adopted by my 27-year-old son, I recently learned.

Oh sure, he cooks a few things like pan grilled shrimp, turkey and black bean taco meat for his burritos, and he’ll cook an Italian sausage and tuck it into a hotdog bun then load it with various toppings he might find in my fridge. And he’s been known to whip up an egg scramble with ingredients he’s scoured from my fridge like turkey bacon, scallions, tomatoes, cheese and leftover turkey meatloaf. But his latest foray into the kitchen is worth reporting. Here’s the story.

I purchased some imitation crab (usually made of cooked, mild-flavored, lean, white-fleshed fish like pollock and whiting) from my local Ralphs grocery store. I don’t usually buy imitation anything but this product was so unusual in that it look like real crab meat removed from the shell. It was a great price so I thought let me give it a try and make some imitation crab salad to serve  over arugula with a new vinaigrette dressing I had made that I wanted to try out with seafood.

On the drive home from work I was imagining what fresh herbs I might add like mint or tarragon when my son called me on my cell phone.

“Hey sweetie how are you?” I said.
“Mom I’m good. I was hungry and I  cooked your imitation crab legs,” he said sounding a bit skittish.
“You cooked them?” I said slightly raising my voice. “I was going to make them into a crab-like salad for dinner. How did you prepare them?”
“Well, I coated them in that chicken fry batter mix in the refrigerator and fried them in some olive oil. I’m sorry but I wanted you to know before you came home. And mom, they turned out crispy and they taste really good. It’s just like you always say mom, Cook fearlessly, eat well. And this is good and I am eating well. I will save you some. You’ll see.”

What could I say after that? Not much. Fruit apparently doesn’t fall far from the tree.

So the lesson is this – get in there, dust off your stove top, pull a fry pan out of the cabinet and make your own culinary magic. Cook fearlessly, eat well.

Here’s what he prepared. And by the way they were very tasty. Bravo sweetie.

Ardis’ pan fried imitation snow crab legs

 

Ingredients

Imitation snow crab legs (the package he cooked weighed about ½ pound)
½ cup Louisiana Seasoned Crispy Chicken Fry Batter Mix
Garlic powder, cracked pepper to taste

Directions

Remove imitation crab from package and place on a piece of waxed or parchment paper.

Season both sides with garlic power and cracked pepper.

Measure ½ cup Louisiana Seasoned Crispy Chicken Fry Batter Mix and pour onto a separate piece of waxed or parchment paper. Dredge each imitation crab piece in fry mix and coat well.

Over medium heat, pour olive oil into a non-stick fry pan and fill it up about half way. Olive oil heats up quickly, so watch it carefully.

When the oil is hot, carefully place half of the coated, imitation crab legs into the  hot oil and cook until crispy on both sides, about 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from the pan when done, drain on a paper towel and cook remaining, coated imitation crab legs.

My son served them with sweet potato fries and Red Rooster hot sauce.

 

Bloggers note: I would probably use grape seed or rice bran oil, but he prefers olive oil.