Open faced crab salad sandwiches

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This week I am on afternoon's again and decided it was a good time to make Open-Faced Crab Salad Sandwiches, from the TasteofHome Contest Winning Annual Recipes 2010 cookbook.

( recipe ahoy )

Thoughts and Variations
I used regular mayo, because that's what was in the fridge, eyeballed the salt and pepper, used just over a quarter cup of red pepper and celery, and used a French baguette for the bread. I have no idea if it was 8 ounces, I just bought the size the store was selling it in. I didn't broil it in the oven because the blurb at the top of the recipe said you could do cold or hot sandwiches, or use it as a cracker dip. My oven is gas and the broil feature gave a very alarming gas smell the last time I turned it on, so I'm reluctant to use that setting.

The crab salad was very good cold though and I'm pleased with it. I may toast the baguette tomorrow in a 350 degree oven, just to have warm bread, but I also might not. This would be a good recipe to make when I can have guests again because it's quick and easy and the oven is optional.

Blueberry scones

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From Smitten Kitchen. The changes I made:
- used ~8 ounces of frozen wild blueberries instead of fresh;
- scanted the sugar in the dough, skipped the sugar on top;
- skipped the lemon zest, substituted a healthy amount of cinnamon.

They're good — the white whole wheat flour adds a nice nuttiness; I would probably use regular blueberries next time because the tiny wild ones don't have that nice jammy texture once baked (and fresh berries would likely make the dough less wet because I had to run cold water over the block of frozen berries to get the ice off); a little soft but running them through the rigors of the toaster (and adding a swipe of salted butter on top) makes the edges properly crisp.

Spare Ribs & New Orleans Coleslaw

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I've tested another couple of Nigella Lawson recipes. This time I tried out the Spare Ribs from her Forever Summer. It's not online so ( here's a scan... )

Changes: I forgot to buy star anise but I don't think that impacted the result much. (And I didn't add any chillies because I really don't like hot food.)

Verdic: Both my mum and I thought they were very tasty so I'm definitely using this recipe again.

As an accompaniement to the spare ribs I made coleslaw using a recipe from her site, New Orleans Coleslaw.

Changes: Used only cabbage and carrots and since you can't buy buttermilk in Sweden any longer I had to use a substitute. I usually use filmjölk in creamy dressings so that's what I choose.

Verdict: Nice but a little bland. I prefer the dressing I usually use - the mustard adds a little bit of zing. So probably not making this again.