Crab Rangoon...Sort Of

So, I was minding my own business, messing around on Pinterest, when I saw a recipe for baked crab rangoon. As it was about supper time, I immediately got hungry for some. The only problem was that I didn't have most of the ingredients! No problem, though! I come from a long and proud tradition of ingredient-substituting in recipes. No crab? Well, imitation "krab" is actually made from fish, and I just happen to have some frozen fish fillets. No cream cheese or ricotta, either. But cottage cheese is sort of like ricotta, right? I added some garlic and onion, and some "Signature Blend" from a recent trip to the Spice and Tea Exchange in Saint Augustine. I threw in an egg, just for good measure, but that made the mixture a bit too sloppy. I think I should have drained the cottage cheese a bit, first.


I mixed everything together in what looked and smelled like reasonable proportions, then spooned small amounts onto my wonton wrappers, then brushed the wrappers with egg, which is supposed to help them brown. I should have sprayed my cookie sheet with oil before starting--some of the wonton wrappers that I initially filled too full (resulting in filling overflow) sort of got glued to the pan. When you're filling the wrappers, if you think you've got about the right amount in your spoon, use a bit less than that, and you'll probably be okay.

While the wontons, or rangoons, or whatever you want to call them, were baking (350 degrees Farenheit, because that's the magical temperature at which everything bakes), I whipped up a little sauce with soy sauce, wasabi, and lemongrass. (My local grocery store stocks lemongrass, ginger, and a few other herbs in squeeze tubes--very handy!)




 Unfortunately, this sauce was a bit too strongly flavored for my wontons, so I had to figure out a way to tone it down. Turns out the magical ingredient was mayonaise, of all things--mixed a bit of my too-strong sauce in with some mayo, and it was all good! This photo is with the first sauce, though--by the time I finished the second version, I just wanted to eat them, not photograph them!