Crab and Avocado Tostadas

Unlike most restaurant tostadas with their heavy toppings of beans and cheese, these tostadas are fresh and light. The guacamole and shredded romaine help stretch the costly crabmeat, and you’ll save money by buying a cooked crab and extracting the meat yourself. Packaged tostadas come in a variety of sizes, and you can use any size you like. From Wine Country Table by Janet Fletcher (Rizzoli).

• 2/3 cup finely diced fresh tomato

• 1/3 cup finely minced green onion, white and pale green part only

• ¼ cup chopped cilantro, plus whole leaves for garnish

• 1 clove garlic, finely minced

• 1 serrano chili, finely minced

• 2 large ripe avocados

• 1 lime, halved, plus 1 lime, quartered

• Kosher or sea salt

• 8 corn tostadas, about 5 inches in diameter

• 1 pale, crisp heart of romaine lettuce, halved lengthwise, then very thinly sliced crosswise

• ½ pound Dungeness crabmeat

• 1/3 cup Mexican-style sour cream (crema)

• Mexican-style hot sauce or Tabasco sauce, optional

In a large bowl, combine the tomato, green onion, cilantro, garlic, and as much of the minced chili as you like. Halve and pit the avocados, then add them to the bowl. Squeeze the juice of ½ lime over the avocado, then mash the avocado coarsely with a fork, incorporating the other ingredients in the bowl as you work. Season with salt and add more juice from the other ½ lime as needed.

Top the tostadas with the guacamole, dividing it evenly and spreading it to the edges. Top each tostada with shredded romaine and then with crab, dividing them evenly. Drizzle each tostada with 2 teaspoons crema. Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve immediately with lime wedges and hot sauce.

Serves 4