Image Credit / Cooking With Cocktail RingsI

This crisp and crunchy salad has enough texture and flavor to leave your taste buds wanting more. Some may call this a seasonal salad, but you can mix and match whatever ingredients your stomach desires and you can eat it whenever you’d like––grab the lettuce, quinoa, and the Dungeness crab meat and start incorporating more yummy goodness. 

Serve this up as an appetizer to a main meal or dish it out for lunch with a warm buttered croissant on the side. This will most definitely be a plate that people will want to replicate on their own. 

Your first step in creating this delightful and distinctive crab and quinoa salad is to purchase fresh Dungeness crab––and Fathom Seafood has just the selection for your needs. 

Before you start cooking, you’ll need to properly clean your Dungeness crab and set aside the meat you will be using for this recipe. 

Fathom has you covered. Their How to Clean Dungeness Crab article will help you out step-by-step. 

Start gathering your ingredients. 

Quinoa:

• ½ cup uncooked white quinoa

Dressing Ingredients:

• ½ cup buttermilk
• ½ cup sour cream
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons diced chives
• 2 tablespoons chopped tarragon
• Kosher salt, as needed
• Freshly ground black pepper, as needed

Salad Ingredients:

• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt, as needed
• 2 medium heads butter lettuce
• 1 medium avocado, pitted, peeled and sliced
• 8 ounces Dungeness crab meat 

Directions:

How to Pop Quinoa? 

1. Rinse ½ cup of quinoa and allow it to dry overnight. If you are a little less patient for your salad to be made, bake the quinoa on a rimmed baking sheet for about 2 hours at 275 degrees. 
   
   
2. Once the quinoa is completely dry, add them to a large skillet, cover, and cook over a medium heat. Just like popcorn, the quinoa will pop as you shake the skillet as it cooks. 
   
   
3. When the popping stops, you’ll know it’s time to move onto the next step. 
   
   
4. Place quinoa on a baking sheet to cool. If you are not ready to use just yet, place quinoa in an airtight container once it has cooled off completely. 

*Note that the quinoa should be a pale, golden brown color. 

Mix up the dressing!

1. Take out a medium bowl and mix together all ingredients that go into the dressing: buttermilk, sour cream, chives, garlic, lemon juice, and tarragon.
   
   
2. Season the dressing to taste with whatever you desire. 
   
   
3. Refrigerate; you can continue to use this batch for about a week. 

Create your Salad Masterpiece 

1. Add olive oil to your tomatoes in a small bowl and toss while seasoning with salt.’
   
   
2. Grab a large salad bowl and add in any of the salad ingredients you wish in whatever amount you want; this will include the popped quinoa and tasty Dungeness crab meat. 
   
   
3.  Add in the dressing and toss. 

Now it is time to dine on this beautifully made salad with a crunch!