Seems there’s an endless variety of Crab Rangoon recipes after you get past the cream cheese and crab part. Although I’d like to keep this fairly traditional there is a twist I’d like to try: goat cheese.
I don’t recall having straight goat cheese, but this pasta meal I made tonight called for it. Naturally I had to taste it before adding it to the dish. I was really surprised how much like cream cheese it was – there was more of a tang but the consistency and flavor was really close. Which got me thinking about how well it would mix with cream cheese and then I though about the Crab Rangoon and well, that’s why we’re here.
Poking around a bit in The Flavor Bible indicated that goat and cream cheese pair well. Garlic pairs well with the cheeses and the crab as does lemon, well at least with the goat cheese and the crab. So with all that in mind, I think we’ll give this a whirl:
Crab Rangoon (printer friendly)
Hardware
- Dutch Oven
- Spider or other frying safe extraction device
- Peanut oil for deep frying
- Candy thermometer
Software
- 4 oz crab meat, fresh chopped is best, canned should be drained and flaked
- 2 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 oz goat cheese,at room temperature
- 1/2 green onion sliced thin
- 1/8 tsp lemon juice
- 1/8 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder
- 18-20 wonton wrappers
Preparation
Heat enough oil for deep frying in a dutch oven over high heat. Position the candy thermometer to take the temperature of the oil.
Combine all ingredients (except the wrappers) in a bowl and stir to combine. Moisten the edges of a wrapper with water (or beaten egg yoke if you prefer). Then place 1 large tsp of the mixture in the middle of the wrapper. Fold one side of the wrapper over the filling to make a triangle shape. It may help to spread a little of the filling toward the left and right edges so the middle doesn’t bulge. Press/pinch the edges of the wrapper together to seal. Place the finished wrappers under a damp towel so they don’t dry out before frying.
Once all the wrappers are ready and the oil is between 350 – 375, carefully add 6-8 filled wrappers to the oil and cook for 3 minutes or so until they are golden brown. Flip them once during the cooking cycle. Extract, set on a draining rig (paper towels on a plate are OK) to cool and then serve.
