Crab “Ravioli”

Serves 6

Special tools: Seafood scissors. If you haven't tried these, you must. It makes shelling ANYTHING easy, and painless (OK, maybe not stone crab, but anything else).

• 2 pounds king crab, or other good crab (weight is only for shells)
  
• 2 avocadoes avocado sliced into 1/8" radial slices, to preserve the shape
  
• 1 recipe lemon aioli, use only half the usual amount of garlic.
  

Remove crab from shells. Place in a strainer and allow to continue to dry out for several hours (if you can).

Cut each avocado in half lengthwise, rotating gently to separate the two halves. then gently score the edge of the peel at the bottom of top and carefully remove the skin. For the side without the pit, carefully cut a 1/6" slice, so you have an avocado "donut." Place three of these to a plate. For the side with the pit, remove the skin as before, and cut radially around the pit to get your slice. Once you've made a full revolution, gently remove the slice from the pit and the rest of the avocado. 2 avocados should be plenty to get you three attractive slices of avocado per person.

Mound the crab into the hole in each of the avocados. This will create the effect of a ravioli.

Drizzle the ailoi over the top and serve.

Alternate preparation: Serve as a terrine, with diced avocado on the bottom, crab on top, and aioli drizzled over the top.

Additional ideas: de-constructed cobb salad, add mini-cubes of cooked bacon, Roquefort, and frisee on top. Potentially layer a slice of egg on top of the avocado.