Ricotta Cheese Crab Tortillas

By Paul Briand

My wife Jane alerted me to this recipe. As news editor for the Eagle-Tribune in North Andover, Mass., she had edited the copy for a story on healthy recipes that included this one for Ricotta Cheese Crab Tortillas.

We love crab, and I was intrigued by the combination of the crabmeat with the ricotta. It isn’t a hot dish, since a cool to room temperature filling is used in a pan toasted tortilla. I mentioned to Jane that you could almost cut up the tortillas into appetizer sized portions and serve this as an hors d’oeuver.

Since I bought a pound of lump crab and since this recipe called for half a pound, that left a half a pound of crab for me to make crab cakes the next night for dinner -- definitely, a win-win in my book.

Ingredients
1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeno pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 teaspoon of each; salt and pepper
1/2 pound fresh crabmeat, drained and flaked
4 (8-inch) whole-wheat flour tortillas
Vegetable cooking spray
Salsa on the side

Directions
1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl and mix well;
2. Fold in crabmeat, set aside;
3. Place 1 tortilla in a non-stick skillet over medium high heat coated with cooking spray;
4. Spread some of the crab mixture over half of tortilla in skillet, leaving a 1/4-inch margin on sides;
5. Cook about 3 minutes or until underside of tortilla is golden brown.
6. Fold in half. Transfer to a serving platter, serve with salsa.
7. Repeat with remaining ingredients;
8. Serves four.

Click here for recipe card.