This gluten free, pasta free crab avocado ravioli is inspired by famed French chef Pascal Barbot, who once had a similar dish on his L'Astance menu.

While living in Paris, I always loved reading about Chef Pascal Barbot, the Michelin starred chef behind L’Astrance, one of Paris’ gastronomical darlings. After spending time at the veg-focused restaurant L'Arpege, he developed a love and appreciation for the simplest, but freshest of products. One of Barbot’s signature dishes was a somewhat simple crab and avocado “ravioli,” but this ravioli is sans pasta.

Some describe it more as a millefeuille, but when I attempted a recreation, it resembled more of an avocado – crab sandwich.  The key is in the slicing of the avocado, which Barbot does with a very sharp mandolin.  He leaves the skin on and the pit in tact and cuts straight through the avocado to get the thinnest of slices to cradle the crab mixture. If you don’t have a mandolin, you can attempt this with a good knife and a steady hand.

I swapped his lime juice for champagne vinegar to brighten the dish even further. 

This crab avocado ravioli makes for a lovely summer starter or side, paired with a fresh glass of Chablis or Rose.

Crab-Avocado “Ravioli”

Serves 4

Ingredients

• ½ pound of lump crabmeat, free of shells
• 1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of almond oil
• Dash of hot sauce
• 1 large ripe, but firm avocado
• 2 chives – cut in small pieces for garnish
• Dash of piment d’esplette

Instructions

1. Place the crabmeat in a bowl and season with vinegar, oil, hot sauce and salt and pepper to taste.
2. Keeping the avocado skin and pit intact, cut in thin slices using a mandoline.
3. Remove the skin and pit from the slices.
4. Place the largest slices of avocado on each plate, 2 per plate. Add a scoop of the crab mixture to the center of each avocado, and then top with a smaller piece of avocado.
5. Garnish with chives and piment d’Espelette.

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