Random inspiration strikes again!

So Tom walks into Whole Foods, gets some inspiration and walks out with a bunch of random stuff, sound like a story you've heard on this blog before?  Yeah, I know, but honestly that really is what happens most of the time!  When I don't have something planned I always start by going to the seafood counter to look for inspiration there first, then I head to the meat counter ... once I have finished these two stops I know what I need to go back for in the veggie section.

For this dinner I had my first stroke of inspiration when I saw Stone Crab claws in the seafood section ... yes please!  I grabbed a pound of those and then headed to the meat counter to see what else I could find.  I was preparing myself for disappointment when I saw there was no Dry-Aged beef out, until I noted the certified USDA Prime filet!  I grabbed a nice thick one and with the start of a plan I headed back to the veggies to figure out what else I was going to serve with dinner.

I had originally been thinking of either stuffing the filet with the crab, or making a crab sauce of sort, but once I got home I decided it might be more fun to play with a "crab cake" of sorts so I went that route.  I de-shelled the crab and decided that rather than traditional crab cakes I would blend a combination of crab and diced avocado into a Johnny Cake mix and see how that worked.  I won't be posting the full recipe here because it really didn't work out as planned.  The Johnny Cake batter was fine (yellow grits, boiling water, sugar, salt and pepper) but I tried to blend too much crab and avocado mix into it and made the cakes too thick.  The centers ended up a little gritty!  If you'd like to try and see if you can do better I would try aiming more for pancake thickness and cooking them until crispy on both sides.  I served them with a sour cream and pimento cheese sauce.

While wandering the vegetable section I had been struck with a couple of points of inspiration ... steak is best served simply with asparagus, and I really wanted to make a sweet onion crepe with truffle sauce.  For those that may not remember, this is a Marc Vetri inspiration that we have loved and made a few times (Sweet Onion Crepe in the New Year's dinner).  The filet I cooked in my prefered winter style (cast iron pan and broiler to finish) and combined with the sweet onion crepe and truffle sauce to offset the need for another protein ... it was divine and exactly what I hadn't known I was looking for when I walked into Whole Foods that day!