Cucumber Crab Roll Ups

Crab, carrot threads, and avocado rolled up in a ribbon of cucumber, and served with your favorite dressing.

Okay, this will be my last cucumber recipe for the season. I just pulled up all of the vines to ready my cucumber beds for the winter, so bye-bye cukes. I’ll miss you!  

As you can see, Gracie loves them too. She’s always stealing them from my garden basket for a quick snack when I’m not looking. I’ve never known a dog that loves cukes like she does. Gracie prefers the Persian cucumbers because they’re small, very crunchy and are thin-skinned, so she doesn’t have to ask me to peel them. I used them in this recipe because they shave into nice narrow ribbons, which make a daintier appetizer.

I used a mandolin to shred the carrots into fine threads.  If you don’t have one, it’s such a nice tool to invest in. It makes it easier to bite into this appetizer when the carrots are in threads. If you don’t have one, just try to cut the carrots into very thin strips. What I like about this appie is that you can use whatever dressing you love, so it fits everyone’s palate. Or, you can also serve little bowls of different dressings to satisfy everyone. 

This is a really simple recipe and pretty too, so don’t just make them for your party. Make them for your family, too because as Grammy always says, “Treat your family like company.” I think that’s a great mantra to live by.

Makes 15 to 18

• About 3 Persian cucumbers
• 1 or 2 carrots, depending on the size
• 1 avocado
• 2 - 3 pieces of imitation crab (the one shaped into logs)
• Salad dressing of your choice

Using a mandolin, shave cucumbers into ribbons. The first couple of ribbons will be small. You can save those for a salad. Peel the carrots. Then using the mandolin again with a different blade, shave into thin threads. Cut the avocado into inch and a half long pieces. Pull apart the crab into shreds and cut them the same length as the avocado. 

Lay a ribbon of cucumber flat. Put a piece of avocado and crab along one end. Put some threads of carrot on top with some of it sticking out a bit longer than the avocado and crab to give it a wispy effect. Roll it up and secure with a toothpick.

Serve with your favorite dressing, or small bowls of different dressings.