I developed this Crab Salad panini to celebrate the epic match-up between Baltimore and San Francisco in the 47th Superbowl. What better way to do that than with a crab salad panini! Both Baltimore and San Francisco are known for their local crab. In Baltimore it’s blue crab, in San Francisco, Dungeness. The crab salad itself is made with fresh, sweet lump crab meat, parsley, green onion, lemon, mayo, and Tabasco. The crab salad is spread between two pieces of sliced sourdough bread (a nod to SF), painted with butter, and then put in a panini press, where the two sides are jammed together, and sizzled. Just like the upcoming game. If you don’t have a panini press, you can easily make the sandwich as if you would make a grilled cheese sandwich. Just press down with a metal spatula as you sear each side. If you want to make the sandwich more Californian, put a few avocado slices in the sandwich. If you want to make it more reminiscent of Baltimore, swap out the Tabasco for plenty of Old Bay. It’s delicious either way! The instructions call for using a panini grill, but you can easily make this as if you make any grilled sandwich on a cast iron pan or griddle surface. Just press down on the sandwich with a metal spatula and flip it once one side is browned. You can dress up the sandwich a bit with a few slices of avocado in each sandwich.
