Secret Recipe: Mermaid Tacos! (with Magnolia and Crab)

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Happy (Belated) Wondercrew Wednesday! Yesterday I was preoccupied with doctor appointments and health advocacy, so I’m delighted that today I can focus again on the things that bring me (and hopefully also you) wonder and delight! Plus something special for the amazing Wondercrew that supports me, of course.

When this recipe came together in my half-asleep mind, all I could think of was “mermaid tacos.” Indeed, these salad-stuffed shells can be eaten in a manner that resembles a taco, and the seafood, cucumber, and magnolia petal salad they contain is certainly a meal befitting a mermaid, but the flavors and preparation are about as far as you can get from a taco! 

Seafood and flowers, a strange combination perhaps… but one that defines spring in my mind. The raging winter storms at the coast have abated, turning instead into some of the lowest tides of the year - perfect for coastal foraging! Meanwhile, on land, oceans of flowering trees burst into bloom, filling the air with the almond-like scents of cherry and plum blossoms, or the strangely alluring spiciness of magnolia. Sweet, tender teafood. Fresh, complex blossoms. There is flavor everwhere we so much as glance this time of year! Indulge in the bounty. Cherish the ephemeral. 

This recipe is a nod to the Japanese-American Kani salad, popularized in Japanese restaurants here in the U.S., a great example of cultures blending to create a new cuisine. “Kani” refers to imitation crab in Japanese, but this salad contains the real stuff. 

Find the rest of this post and the Secret Recipe over on Patreon.com/thewondersmith!

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